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THE  ADDRESS 


teotttl)crii  anb  tof  stern  Cibatg  CoutJtnti0n 

HELD  AT  CINCINNATI,  JUNE  11  &  12,  1S45,* 

TO  THE   PEOPLE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

WITH  NOTES  BY  A   CITIZEN   OF   PENNSYLVANIA. 


Having  assembled  in  Convention  as  friends  of  I 
Constitutional  Liberty,  who  believe  the  practice  of 
slaveholding  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  Republicanism,  of  Religion,  and  of 
Humanity,  we  think  it  our  duty  to  declare,  frankly, 
to  you,  our  fellow-citizens,  the  views  which  we  hold, 
the  principles  by  which  we  are  governed,  and  the 
objects  which  we  desire,  by  your  co-operation,  to 
accomplish.  We  ask  and  expect  from  you  a  candid 
and  respectful  hearing.  We  are  not  a  band  of 
fanatics,  as  some  foolishly  imagine,  and  others  slan- 
derously assert,  bent  on  the  overthrow  of  all  Go- 
vernment and  all  Religion.  We  are  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  having  our  homes  in  the  West  and 
the  Southwest,  some  in  the  Slave  States,  and  some 
in  the  Free,  bound  to  our  country  by  the  most  en- 
dearing ties  and  the  most  solemn  obUgations,  filled 
with  the  most  ardent  desires  for  her  prosperity  and 
glory,  and  resolved,  so  far  as  in  us  Ues,  to  carry  for- 
ward and  perfect  the  great  work  of  individual,  social, 
and  civil  elevation  which  our  fathers  nobly  began. 

The  Revolution. 

The  American  Revolution  was  not  a  mere  poUti- 
cal  accident.  It  was  an  inevitable  result  of  a  long 
train  of  causes,  all  conspiring  to  make  men  impa- 
tient of  oppression.  It  was  a  necessary  battle  in 
the  progress  of  the  great  conflict  between  Despotism 
and  Freedom,  between  the  Aristocratic  and  the 
democratic  principle. 

Our  fathers  so  regarded  it.  They  claimed  for 
themselves  no  new  or  peculiar  rights:  they  only 
demanded  security  in  the  enjoyment  of  those  rights 
to  which,  as  descendants  of  Englishmen,  they  were 
entitled  under  the  Great  Charter :  to  which,  as  men, 
they  were  entitled  under  the  grant  of  their  Creator. 
They  asserted  the  equal  right  of  all  men  to  the  im- 
munities which  they  claimed  for  themselves.    It  was 


*  The  Southern  and  Western  Liberty  Convention, 
held  at  Cincinnati,  on  the  lllh  and  12th  June,  1845, 
was  the  most  remarkable  Anti-Slavery  body  yet  assem- 
bled in  the  United  States.  The  call  embraced  all  those 
who  were  resolved  to  act  against  Slavery,  by  speech, 
by  the  pen,  by  the  press,  and  by  the  ballot.  It  was 
not  therefore  exclusively  a  Convention  of  the  Liberty 
party ;  and  accordingly  not  a  few  were  in  attendance, 
who  had  not  acted  with  that  party.  The  whole  num- 
ber present  as  Delegates,  was  about  two  thousand — 
from  the  States  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois  and  Michigan ; 
from  the  Territories  of  Wisconsin  and  Iowa;  from  West- 
ern Pennsylvania,  and  Western  Virginia,  and  from  Ken- 
tacky.  Deputations  were  also  present  from  Massachusetts, 


impossible  that  they  should  not  see  and  feel  the 
gross  inconsistency  of  the  practice  of  slaveholding 
with  their  avowed  political  faith.  The  writings  of 
the  Revolutionary  period  afford  the  amplest  evidence 
that  they  did  perceive  and  feel  it.  But  slavery  was 
already  in  the  country,  interwoven  with  domestic 
habits,  pecuniary  interests  and  legal  rights.  It  ex- 
isted under  the  sanction  of  the  laws  of  the  several 
colonies,  beyond  the  reach  of  the  direct  legislation 
of  Congress.  The  consequences  of  an  immediate 
affranchisement  of  the  enslaved  were,  also,  generally 
dreaded.  Our  fathers,  therefore,  confined  them- 
selves to  general  declarations  of  the  great  doctrine 
of  equal  rights,  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  just 
government ;  and  without  directly  interfering  with 
the  legislation  of  any  particular  member  of  the  con- 
federacy, endeavoured  to  establish  the  National  Go- 
vernment and  Policy  upon  such  principles  as  would 
bring  about,  at  length,  the  desired  result  of  Universal 
Freedom. 

We  solicit  your  particular  attention,  fellow  citi- 
zens, to  this  statement.  It  has  been  the  practice  of 
many  to  represent  the  American  government  as  the 
patron  and  guardian  of  slavery.  Some  have  even 
dared  to  say  that  it  was  the  purpose  of  the  foun- 
ders of  the  government  that  it  should  fulfil  this 
office.  We  join  issue  with  all  such  persons.  We 
denounce  all  such  representations  as  libels  upon 
the  great  men  who  won  and  bequeathed  to  us  the 
precious  heritage  of  Free  Institutions.  We  insist 
that  from  the  assembling  of  the  First  Congress  in 
1 774,  until  its  fiuEJl  organization  under  the  existing 
constitution  in  1789,  the  American  Government 
was  anti-slavery  in  its  character  and  policy. 

The  importance  of  this  position,  and  the  proba- 
bility that  this  address  will  be  read  by  some  who 
have  not  examined  it,  justify  the  appropriation  of 
some  space  to  the  proof  of  it. 


New  York  and  Rhode  Island;  and  the  whole  assembly, 
including  spectators,  varied  during  the  sittings  from  two 
thousand  five  hundred,  to  four  thousand  persons.  Letters 
were  received  from  Samuel  Fessenden  and  Samuel  H. 
Pond,  Me.,  Titus  Hutchinson,  Vt.,  Elihu  Burritt  and  H. 
B.  Stanton,  and  Phineas  Crandell,  Mass.;  Wm,  Jay,  Wm. 
H.  Seward,  Gerrit  Smith,  Horace  Greeley,  Wm.  Goodell., 
Lewis  Tappan,  New  York;  C.  D.  Cleveland^  F.  Julius 
Lemoyne,  Thomas  Earle,  Pennsylvania;  F.  D.  Parish, 
Ohio;  Cassius  M.  Clay,  Lexington,  Ky.,  and  John  Gil- 
more,  Virginia. 

It  is  proper  to  say,  that  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
which  reported  this  very  able  address,  and  by  whom  the 
same  was  wl-itten,  was  -S.  P.  Chase,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati. 


2 


FlHST    COJTGBESS. 


We,  therefore,  invite  your  attention  to  a  memora- 
ble act  of  the  First  Congress,  which  assembled  in 
1774.  The  Non-Importation,  Non-Consumption, 
and  Non-Exportation  Agreement  of  that  illustrious 
body,  signed  in  their  individual  and  representative 
capacities,  by  the  delegates  of  all  the  represented 
aolonies,  and  promulgated  to  the  world  as  the  solemn 
act  of  United  America,  contained  this  remarkable 
d.ause  : — "  We  will  neither  import  nor  purchase  any 
slave  imported  after  the  first  day  of  December  next : 
after  which  time  we  will  wholly  discontinue  the 
slave  trade,  and  neither  be  concerned  in  it  ourselves, 
nor  will  we  hire  our  vessels  or  sell  our  commodities 
or  manufactures  to  those  who  may  be  concerned  in 
it"  The  entire  agreement  of  which  this  clause 
was  part,  was  not,  indeed,  intended  to  be  of  perpe- 
tual obligation :  yet  the  singularly  emphatic  phrase- 
ology of  this  part  of  it  manifests  clearly  enough  the 
understanding  of  the  delegates  as  to  the  obligation 
they  assumed  for  themselves  and  for  the  country. 
It  was,  in  fact,  a  deliberate  national  vow  and  cove- 
nant against  all  traffic  in  human  beings,  and  was  so 
understood  by  the  people  at  large.  Virginia  pro- 
ceeded, soon  after,  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  by  a 
solemn  act  of  legislation,  and  her  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  all  or  nearly  all  the  States. 

DEClARATIOJf    OF    l!«DEPENDEKCE. 

Two  years  aftei-wards,  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  promulgated  to  the  world.  In  a  sin- 
gle sentence  of  this  great  Act,  our  fathers  imbodied 
the  fundamental  principles  on  which  they  proposed 
to  establish  the  free  government  of  the  United 
States.  «  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident ; 
that  all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  en- 
dowed by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable 
rights;  that  among  these  are  life,  liberty,  and  the 
pursuit  of  happiness."  In  these  words,  for  the  first 
time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  was  the  doctrine  of 
the  inalienable  right  of  every  man  to  life,  liberty, 
atnd  the  pursuit  of  happiness,  solemnly  proclaimed 

AS    THE    RASIS    OF  A  NATJONAL    POLITICAI.    FAITH. 

This  declaration  pledged  its  authors,  and  the  nation 
which  made  it  its  own,  by  adoption,  to  eternal  hosti- 
lity to  every  form  of  despotism  and  oppression. 
With  this  declaration  inscribed  upon  their  banners, 
they  went  into  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  invoking 
the  attestation  of  "  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world" 
to  the  rectitude  of  their  purpose!. 

Afl^r  a  protracted  and  dubious  struggle  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  American  Republic  was  at  length 
achieved,  and  the  attention  of  Congress  was  turned 
to  the  establishment  and  extension  of  free  institu- 
tions. Beyond  the  Alleghany  Mountains,  then  the 
western  limit  of  civilization,  stretched  a  vast  terri- 
tory, untrodden  except  by  the  savage,  but  destined 
in  the  hope  and  faith  of  the  patriots  of  the  Revolu- 
tion to  be  the  seat  of  mighty  states.  To  this  terri- 
tory, during  the  war  just  terminated,  various  States 
had  set  up  conflicting  claims :  while  the  Congress 
had  urged  upon  ail,  the  cession  of  their  several  pre- 
tensions for  the  common  good.  The  recommenda- 
tions of  Congress  prevailed.  Among  the  States 
which  signalized  their  patriotism  by  the  cession  of 
claims  to  Western  Territory,  Virginia  was  pre-emi- 
nently distinguished,  both  by  the  magnitude  of  her 


claim  of  Virginia  comprehended  almost  all  that  is 
now  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois.  She  yielded  it  all, 
almost  with  no  other  condition  than  that  the  terri- 
tory should  be  disposed  of  for  the  common  benefit, 
and  finally  erected  into  Republican  States.  The 
absence  of  all  stipulations  in  behalf  of  slavery  in 
these  cessions,  and  especially  in  that  of  Virginia, 
furnishes  strong  evidence  of  the  prevalence  of  anti- 
slavery  sentiment  at  that  day.  But  the  action  of 
Congress,  in  relation  to  the  territory  thus  acquired, 
supplies  decisive  proof. 

Ordinance  of  1787. 

It  was  in  1787,  that  Congress  promulgated  the 
celebrated  Ordinance  for  the  Government  of  the 
Territory  northwest  of  the  river  Ohio.  In  this 
ordinance,  for  the  purpose  of  "  extending  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  civil  and  religious  Uberty ;  *  * 
to  fix  and  establish  those  principles  as  the  basis  of 
all  laws,  constitutions,  and  governments,  which  for 
ever  thereafter  should  be  formed  in  said  territory," 
Congress  established  "  certain  articles  of  compact 
between  the  original  States  and  the  people  and 
States  in  the  territory  to  remain  for  ever  imalterable, 
unless  by  common  consent."  One  of  these  articles 
of  compact  declared  that  there  should  be  « neither 
slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude  in  the  territory, 
otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes ;"  pro- 
viding, however,  that  the  right  of  retaking  fugitives 
firom  service  should  be  preserved  to  the  citizens  of 
the  original  States.  This  ordinance  was  adopted  by 
the  unanimous  vote  of  all  the  States,  there  being  but 
a  single  individual  negative,  which  was  given  by  a 
member  from  New  York.  Upon  the  question  of 
excluding  slavery,  we  may  fairly  assume  that  there 
was  entire  unanimity. 

It  seems  to  us  impossible  to  conceive  of  a  more 
significant  indication  of  National  Policy.  The  Con- 
gress was  about  to  fix  for  ever  the  relation  of  five 
future  States  to  the  question  of  slavery.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  liberal  opinions  of  1776,  Massachu- 
setts, New  Hampshire,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island, 
Vermont  and  Pennsylvania,  had  already  abolished 
or  had  taken  measures  for  abolishing  slavery  within 
their  limits.  It  was  expected  that  other  Atlantic 
States  would  follow  their  example.  The  creation  of 
five  non-slaveholding  States  in  the  West  would  evi- 
dently secure  a  permanent  majority  on  the  side  of 
Freedom  against  Slavery.  There  was,  at  that  time, 
no  other  national  territory  out  of  which  slavehold- 
ing  States  could  be  carved :  nor  was  there  any 
thought  of  acquiring  territory  with  such  an  object. 
And  yet  the  votes  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  were 
given,  and  unanimously  given,  for  the  positive  exclu- 
sion of  slavery  from  all  the  vast  region  now  pos- 
sessed by  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin, and  for  the  virtual  restriction  of  the  right  of 
reclaiming  fugitive  servants  to  cases  of  escape  from 
the  original  States.  There  was  very  little  compro- 
mise here.  There  was  clear,  unqualified,  decisive 
action  in  the  fulfilment  and  in  renewal  of  the  solemn 
pledge  given  in  1774,  reiterated  in  1776,  and  in  pur- 
suance of  the  settled  national  policy  of  restricting 
slavery  to  the  original  States,  and  of  excluding  it 
from  all  national  territory  and  from  all  new  States. 
It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  neither  in  this  ordi- 
nance, nor  in  the  national  acts  which  preceded  it, 


grant  and  tlie  spirit  in  whicii  it  was  made.     The  |  did  the  Congress  undertake  to  legislate  upon  the 


En^ 

O.  !..^1^ 


actual  personal  relations  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
original  States.  They  sought  to  impress  upon  the 
national  character  and  the  national  policy  the  stamp 
of  Liberty ;  but  they  did  not,  so  far  as  we  can  see, 
attempt  to  interfere  with  the  internal  arrangements 
of  any  State,  however  inconsistent  those  arrange- 
ments might  be  with  that  character  and  policy. 
They  expected,  however,  and  they  had  reason  to 
expect,  that  slavery  would  be  excluded  from  all 
places  of  national  jurisdiction,  and  that  whatever 
in  the  arrangements  of  particular  States  savoured  of 
despotism  and  oppression,  and  especially  that  the 
system  of  slavery,  which  concentrates  in  itself  the 
whole  essence  and  all  the  attributes  of  despotism 
and  oppression,  would  give  way  before  the  steady 
action  of  the  national  faith  and  the  national  policy. 
Such  was  the  state  of  opinion,  when  the  Con- 
vention for  framing  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  assembled.  The  ordinance  of  1787,  which 
was  the  most  significant  and  decisive  expression  of 
this  opinion,  was  promulgated  while  the  Constitu- 
tion-Convention was  in  session.  The  Constitution, 
therefore,  is  to  be  examined  with  reference  to  the 
public  acts  which  preceded  it,  and  the  prevalent 
popular  sentiment. 

The  Constitution. 
And  the  first  thing  which  arrests  the  attention  of 
the  inquirer,  is  the  remarkable  preamble  which  is 
prefixed  to  the  operative  clauses  of  the  instrument, 
in  which  the  objects  to  be  attained  by  it  are  particu- 
larly enumerated. — These  are  "  to  form  a  more  per- 
fect union,  estabUsh  justice,  ensure  domestic  tran- 
quillity, provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote 
the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of 
liberty."  It  would  be  singular,  indeed,  if  a  consti- 
tution adopted  for  such  objects,  and  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, should  be  found  to  contain  guaranties 
of  slavery.  We  should  expect,  on  the  contrary, 
that,  although  the  national  government  created  by 
it,  might  not  be  directly  authorized  to  act  upon  the 
slavery  already  existing  in  the  States,  all  power  to 
create  or  continue  the  system  by  national  sanction, 
would  be  carefully  withheld,  and  some  safeguards 
would  be  provided  against  its  further  extension. 
And  such,  in  our  judgment,  was  the  true  effect  of 
the  Constitution.  We  are  not  prepared  to  deny, 
on  the  one  hand,  that  several  clauses  of  the  instru- 
ment were  intended  to  refer  to  slaves ;  nor  to  admit, 
on  the  other,  all  the  consequences  which  the  friends 
of  slavery  would  deduce  from  these  clauses.  We 
abstain  from  these  questions.  It  is  enough  for  our 
purpose,  that  it  seems  clear,  that  neither  the  framers 
of  the  Constitution,  nor  the  people  who  adopted  it, 
intended  to  violate  the  pledges  given  in  the  covenant 
of  1774,  in  the  declaration  of  1776,  in  the  ordinance 
of  1787;  that  they  did  not  purpose  to  confer  on 
Congress  or  the  General  Government  any  power  to 
establish,  or  continue,  or  sanction  slavery  anywhere ; 
that,  if  they  did  not  intend  to  authorize  direct  na- 
tional  legislation   for   the   removal   of  the  slavery 

*  "A  slave  is  one  who  is  in  the  power  of  his  master,  to 
whom  he  belongs.  The  master  may  sell  him,  dispose  of 
his  person,  his  industry,  and  his  labour :  he  can  do  nothing, 
possess  nothing,  nor  acquire  any  thing  but  what  must 
belong  to  his  master." — Law  of  Louisiana. 

"Slaves  shall  always  be  reputed  and  considered  real 
estate  ;  shall  be,  as  such,  subject  to  be  mortgaged,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  prescribed  by  law,  and  tkey  shall  be  seized 
and  sold  as  real  estate." — Law  of  Louisiana:-      -»  ^ov.  i 


existing  in  particulaT  States  under  their  local  laws, 
they  did  intend  to  keep  the  action  of  the  national 
government  free  from  all  connection  with  the  system ; 
to  discountenance  and  discourage  it  in  the  States ; 
and  to  favour  the  aboUtion  of  it  by  State  authority — 
a  result,  then,  generally  expected ;  and,  finally,  to 
pro\'ide  against  its  further  extension  by  confining 
the  power  to  acquire  new  territory,  and  admit  new 
States  to  the  General  Government,  the  Une  of  whose 
policy  was  clearly  marked  out  by  the  ordinance  and 
preceding  public  acts. 

We  cannot  think  that  any  unprejudiced  student 
of  the  Constitution,  examining  it  in  the  Ught  of 
precedent  action,  and  contemporary  opinion,  can 
arrive  at  any  other  conclusion  than  this.  No 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  would  be  needed  to 
adapt  it  to  the  new  condition  of  things,  were  every 
State  in  the  Union  to  abolish  slavery  forthwith. 
There  is  not  a  line  of  the  instrument  which  refers 
to  slavery  as  a  national  institution,  to  be  upheld  by 
national  law.  On  tiie  contrary,  every  clause  which 
ever  has  been  or  can  be  construed  as  referring  to 
slavery,  treats  it  as  the  creature  of  State  law,  and 
dependent  wholly  upon  State  law  for  its  existence 
and  continuance.  So  careful  were  the  framers  of 
the  Constitution  to  negative  all  implied  sanction  of 
slaveholding,  that  not  only  were  the  terms  «  slave," 
«  slavery,"  and  "  slaveholding,"  excluded,  but  even 
the  word  "  servitude,"  which  was  at  first  inserted  to 
express  the  condition,  under  the  local  law,  of  the 
persons  who  were  to  be  delivered  up,  should  they 
escape  from  one  State  into  another,  was,  on  motion 
of  Mr.  Randolph  of  Virginia,  stricken  out,  and 
"  service"  unanimously  inserted,  "  the  former  being 
thought  to  express  the  condition  of  slaves,  and  the 
latter  the  obhgation  of  free  persons." 

That  such  was  the  general  understanding  of  the 
people  will  be  the  more  manifest  if  we  extend  our 
examination  beyond  the  Constitution  as  originally 
adopted,  to  the  amendments  subsequently  incor- 
porated into  it.  One  of  these  amendments,  as  ori- 
ginally proposed  by  Virginia,  provided  that  «no 
freeman  should  be  deprived  of  life,  Uberty  or  pro- 
perty but  by  the  law  of  the  land,''  and  was  copied, 
substantially,  fi-om  the  English  Magna  Charta.  Con- 
gress altered  the  phraseology  by  inserting,  in  Ueu  of 
the  words  quoted,  '<  no  peiison  shall  be  deprived  of 
life,  liberty,  or  property,  without  due  process  of 
LAW :"  and,  thus  altered,  the  proposed  amendment 
became  part  of  the  Constitution.  We  are  aware 
that  it  has  been  held  by  distinguished  authority,  that 
the  section  of  the  amended  Constitution,  which  con- 
tains this  provision,  operates  as  a  limitation  only  on 
national  and  not  upon  State  legislation.  Without 
controverting  this  opinion  here,  it  is  enough  to  say* 
that,  at  the  least,  the  clause  prohibits  the  General; 
Government  from  sanctioning  slaveholding,  and 
renders  the  continuance  of  slavery,  as  a  legal  relar 
tion,  in  any  place  of  exclusive  national  jurisdiouon, 
impossible. 

For,  what  is  slavery  1i     It  is  the  complete  Mid 

"  Penalty  for  any  slave,  or  free  coloured  person,  exer- 
cising the  functions  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  thi«ty^ 
NINE  lashes."  "Penalty  for  teaching  a  slave  to  read, 
imprisonment  one  year."  "Every  negro,  or  mulatto, 
found  in  the  State,  not  able  to  show  himself  entitled 
to  freedom,  may  be  sold  as  a  slave."— ifltos  af  JUissis' 
sippi. 

"  For  attempting  to  teach  any  free  coloured  person,  or 
fi\!Pi^y  tg  spell,  read,  or  write,  a  fine  of  not  leas  thaa  two 


Tsi: 


absolute  subjection  of  one  person  to  the  control  and 
disposal  of  another  person,  by  legalized  force.  We 
need  not  argue  that  no  person  can  be,  rightfully, 
compelled  to  submit  to  such  control  and  disposal. 
All  such  subjection  must  originate  in  force;  and, 
private  force  not  being  strong  enough  to  accomplish 
the  purpose,  public  force,  in  the  form  of  law,  must 
lend  its  aid.  The  Government  comes  to  the  help 
of  the  individual  slaveholder,  and  punishes  resistance 
to  his  will  and  compels  submission.  The  Govern- 
ment, therefore,  in  the  case  of  every  individual  slave 
is  THE  HEAL  ENSLAVER,  depriving  each  person  en- 
slaved of  all  liberty  and  all  property,  and  all  that 
makes  life  dear,  vnthout  imputation  of  crime  or  any 
legal  process  whatsoever.  This  is  precisely  what  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  forbidden  to  do 
by  the  Constitution.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States,  therefore,  cannot  create  or  continue  the  rela- 
tion of  master  and  slave.  Nor  can  that  relation  be 
created  or  continued  in  any  place,  district  or  terri- 
tory, over  which  the  jurisdiction  of  the  National 
Government  is  exclusive;  for  slavery  cannot  subsist 
a  moment  after  the  support  of  the  public  force  has 
been  withdrawn. 

We  need  not  go  further  to  prove  that  slaveholding 
in  the  States  can  have  no  rightful  sanction  or  sup- 
port from  national  authority,  but  must  depend 
wholly  upon  State  law  for  existence  and  continu- 
ance. 

We  have  thus  proved,  from  the  Public  Acts  of 
the  Nation,  that,  up  to  the  time  of  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  the  people  of  the  United  States 
were  an  anti-slavery  people ;  that  the  sanction  of 
the  national  approbation  was  never  given,  and  never 
intended  to  be  given,  to  slaveholding ;  that,  on  the 
contrary,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was 
expressly  forbidden  to  deprive  any  person  of  liberty, 
without  due  legal  process ;  and  that  the  policy  of 
excluding  slavery  from  all  national  territory,  and  re- 
stricting it  within  the  limits  of  the  original  States, 
was  early  adopted  and  practically  applied. 


hundred  and  fifty,  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars." — 
Law  of  Alabama. 

"  Any  person  who  sees  more  than  seven  slaves  without 
any  white  person,  in  a  high  road,  may  whip  each  slave 
twenty  lashes."  "Every  coloured  person  is  presumed  to 
be  a  slave,  unless  he  can  prove  himself  free."— Laws  of 
Georgia. 

"  Slaves  shall  be  deemed  sold,  taken,  reputed,  and  ad- 
judged, in  law,  to  be  chattels  personal  in  the  hands  of  their 
owners  and  possessors,  and  their  executors,  administrators, 
and  assigns,  to  all  intents,  constructions,  and  pur- 
poses w^HATEVER."  "  Whcreas,  many  owners  of  slaves, 
and  others,  that  have  the  management  of  them,  do  confine 
them  so  closely  to  hard  labour,  that  they  have  not  suffi- 
cient time  for  natural  rest,  be  it  enacted  that  no  slave  shall 
be  compelled  to  labour  more  than  fifteen  hours  in  the 
twenty-four,  from  March  25  to  September  25,  or  fourteen, 
for  the  rest  of  the  year."  "  Penalty  for  killing  a  slave 
in  a  sudden  heat  or  passion,  or  by  undue  correction,  a  fine 
of  five  hundred  dollars,  and  imprisonment  ?iot  over  six 
months  !" — Laws  of  South  Carolina. 

"  In  the  trial  of  slaves,  the  Sheriff  chooses  the  Court, 
which  must  consist  of  three  Justices  and  twelve  slavehold- 
ers, to  serve  as  jurors." — Law  of  Tennessee. 

"Any  emancipated  slave  remaining  in  the  State  more 
than  a  year,  may  be  sold  by  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  literary  fund."  "Any  slave,  or  free 
cc^oured  person,  found  at  any  school  for  teaching  reading 
or  writing,  by  day  or  night,  may  be  whipped,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  a  Justice,  not  exceeding  twenty  lashes."  "Any 
white  person  assembling  with  slaves,  forthe  purpose  of 


1     Sentiments  of  Distingttished  Men  of  the 
Revolutionary  Period. 

Permit  us  now,  fellow  citizens,  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  the  recorded  opinions  of  the  Patriots  and 
Sages  of  the  Revolutionary  Era ;  from  which  you 
will  learn  that  many  of  them,  so  far  from  desiring 
that  the  General  Government  should  sanction  slavery 
or  extend  its  limits,  were  displeased  that  it  was  not, 
in  terms,  empowered  to  take  action  for  its  final  ex- 
tinction in  the  States,  and  that  almost  all  looked  for- 
ward to  its  final  removal  by  State  authority  with 
expectation  and  hope. 

The  Preamble  of  the  Abolition  Act  of  Pennsyl- 
vania of  1780,  exhibits  clearly  the  state  of  many 
minds.  "Weaned,"  says  the  General  Assembly, 
«  by  a  long  course  of  experience  from  those  narrow 
prejudices  and  partiaUties  we  had  imbibed,  we  find 
our  hearts  enlarged  with  kindness  and  benevolence 
towards  men  of  all  conditions  and  nations ;  and  we 
conceive  ourselves,  at  this  particular  period,  extra- 
ordinarily called  upon  by  the  blessing  we  have  re- 
ceived, to  manifest  the  sincerity  of  our  professions 
and  to  give  a  substantial  proof  of  our  gratitude." 

The  sentiments  of  Mr.  Jefferson  are  too  well 
known  to  justify  large  quotations  from  his  writings. 
We  invite,  however,  your  attention  to  two  sentences ; 
and  will  observe,  in  passing,  that  his  opinions  were 
shared  by  almost  every  Virginian  of  distinguished 
patriotism  or  ability. 

In  his  Notes  on  Virginia,  he  said : — "  I  think  a 
change  already  perceptible  since  the  origin  of  the 
present  revolution.  The  spirit  of  the  master  is 
abating,  that  of  the  slave  is  rising  from  the  dust,  his 
condition  mollifying,  the  way,  I  hope,  preparing, 
under  the  auspices  of  Heaven,  for  a  total  emancipa- 
tion ;  and  that  is  disposed,  in  the  order  of  events,  to 
be  with  the  consent  of  the  masters,  rather  than  by 
their  extirpation." 

On  another  occasion  he  said,  "Nobody  wishes 
more  ardently  than  I  to  see  an  abolition  not  only  of 
the  trade,  but  of  the  condition  of  slavery ;  and  cer- 


teachingthem  to  read  or  write,  shall  be  fined  not  less  than 
ten, nor  more  than  a  hundred  dollars." — Laws  of  Virginia. 
By  the  revised  code  of  this  State,  seventy-one  oflencea 
are  punished  with  death,  when  committed  by  slaves,  and 
by  nothing  more  than  imprisonment  when  by  whites. 

"Any  slave  convicted  of  petty  treason,  murder,  or  wilful 
burning  of  dwelling-houses,  may  be  sentenced  to  have  thp 
right  hand  cut  off,  to  be  hanged  in  the  usual  manner,  th^' 
head  severed  from  the  body,  the  body  divided  into  four 
quarters,  and  the  head  and  quarters  set  up  in  the  most 
public  place  in  the  country,  where  such  fact  was  com- 
mitted."— Law  of  Maryland. 

We  might  extend  such  extracts  from  such  laws,  (if 
laws  they  can  be  called,)  to  the  size  of  an  octavo; — 
laws  that  would  disgrace  the  most  savage  people  upon  the 
face  of  the  earth.  In  reference  to  them,  the  editor  of  the 
New  York  Tribune,  of  November  25,  1845,  thus  speaks : 
"  Laws  which  allow  one  man  to  sell  another  man  a  thou- 
sand miles  away  from  his  wife,  and  their  children  five 
hundred  miles  apart  in  other  directions,  without  right  or 
hope  of  reunion — which  allow  men  to  beat,  ravish,  or 
even  murder  women  of  the  degraded  caste  with  impunity, 
in  the  presence  of  a  dozen  witnesses  of  their  own  colour, 
if  there  are  none  of  the  ruling  caste  to  testify  against 
them— laws,  which  give  to  a  white  drunkard  and  gambler 
all  the  earnings  of  an  ingenious  and  industrious  black 
family  for  life,  with  privilege  to  flog  them  into  the  bargain— 
these  laws  are  hateful  to  God,  and  pernicious  to  mankind. 
We  can  comprehend  them  as  well  in  New  York  as  in 
Kentucky,  and  they  cannot  be  less  than  infernal  any 
where."  * 


tainly  nobody  will  be  more  willing  to  encounter 
every  sacrifice  for  that  object." 

In  a  letter  to  John  F.  Mercer,  George  Washington 
said,  "  I  never  mean,  unless  some  particular  circum- 
stances should  compel  me  to  it,  to  possess  another 
slave  by  purchase ;  it  being  among  my  first  wishes 
to  see  some  plan  adopted  by  which  slavery  in  this 
country  may  be  abolished  by  law." 

In  a  letter  to  Sir  John  Sinclair,  assigning  reasons 
for  the  depreciation  of  Southern  lands,  he  said, 
« There  are  in  Pennsylvania  laws  for  the  gradual 
aboUtion  of  slavery,  which  neither  Virginia  nor 
Maryland  have  at  present,  but  which  nothing  is 
more  certain  than  that  they  must  have,  and  at  a 
period  not  remote."2 

General  Lee  of  Virginia,  in  his  «  Memoirs  on  the 
Revolutionary  War,"  remarked,  "  The  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  adopted  lately  with  so  much 
difficulty,  has  effectually  provided  against  this  evil, 
(the  slave  trade,)  after  a  few  years.  It  is  much  to 
be  lamented,  that  having  done  so  much  in  this  way, 
a  provision  had  not  been  made  for  the  gradual  abo- 
lition of  slavery." 

Judge  Tucker  of  Virginia,  in  a  letter  to  the 
General  Assembly  of  that  State,  in  1796,  recom- 
mending the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  speaking  of 
the  slaves  in  Virginia,  said,  «  Should  we  not  at  the 
time  of  the  Revolution  have  loosed  their  chains  and 
broken  their  fetters  1  or,  if  the  difficulties  and  dan- 
gers of  such  an  experiment  prohibited  the  attempt 
during  the  convulsions  of  a  revolution,  is  it  not  our 
duty  to  embrace  the  first  moment  of  constitutional 
health  and  vigour  to  effectuate  so  desirable  an 
object,  and  to  remove  fi-om  us  a  stigma  with  which 
our  enemies  will  never  fail  to  upbraid  us,  nor  our 
consciences  to  reproach  us]" 

Luther  Martin,  of  Maryland,  left  the  Convention 
before  the  Constitution  was  finally  completed.  He 
opposed  its  adoption,  and  assigned,  in  his  report  to 
the  Maryland  legislature,  as  a  leading  reason  for  his 
opposition,  the  absence  from  the  instrument  of 
express  provisions  against  slavery.  He  said  that  it 
was  urged  in  the  Convention,  "  that  by  the  proposed 
system  we  were  giving  the  General  Government 
full  and  absolute  power  to  regulate  commerce,  under 
which  general  power  it  would  have  a  right  to  restrain 
or  totally  prohibit  the  slave-trade ;  it  must,  there- 
fore, appear  to  the  world  absurd  and  disgraceful  to 
the  last  degree,  that  we  should  except  from  the  exer- 
cise of  that  power  the  only  branch  of  commerce 
'which  is  unjustifiable  in  its  nature,  and  contrary  to 
the  rights  of  mankind : — that,  on  the  contrary,  we 
ought  rather  to  prohibit  expressly  in  our  Constitu- 
tion the  further  importation  of  slaves,  and  to  autho- 
rize the  General  Government,  from  time  to  time,  to 
make  such  regulations  as  should  be  thought  most 
advantageous  for  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery, 
and  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  which  are  already 
in  the  States." 

James  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania,  signed  the  Con- 


i*  In  a  letter  to  Robert  Morris,  he  also  said,  "  There  is 
only  one  proper  and  effectual  mode  by  which  the  abolition 
of  slavery  can  be  accomplished,  and  that  is  by  legislative 
authority  ;  and  this,  as  far  as  my  suffrage  will  go,  shall 
never  be  wanting." 

In  a  speech  in  the  House  of  Delegates  of  Maryland, 
Wm.  Pinckney  said, "  By  the  eternal  principles  of  natural 
justice,  no  master  in  this  State  has  a  right  to  hold  his  slave 
for  a  single  hour.'* 


stitution,  taking  a  very  different  view  of  its  provi- 
sions, bearing  upon  slavery,  from  that  of  Mr.  Martin, 
but  agreeing  with  him  entirely  as  to  slavery  itself. 
In  the  Ratification  Convention  of  Pennsylvania, 
speaking  of  the  clause  relating  to  the  power  of  Con- 
gress over  the  slave-trade  after  twenty  years,  he 
said :  « I  consider  this  clause  as  laying  the  foimda- 
tion  for  banishing  slavery  out  of  this  country.  It 
will  produce  the  same  kind  of  gradual  change  which 
was  produced  in  Pennsylvania:  the  new  States, 
which  are  to  be  formed,  will  be  under  the  control  of 
Congress  in   this   particular,  and  slavery  will 

NEVER  BE  INTUODUCED  AMONG  THEM.     It  prCSCUtS 

US  with  the  pleasing  prospect  that  the  rights  of  man- 
kind will  be  acknowledged  and  estabUshed  through- 
out the  Union." 

In  the  Ratification  Convention  of  Massachusetts, 
Gen.  Heath  declared  that  "  Slavery  was  confined 
TO  THE  States  now  existing  :  it  could  not  be 
extended.  By  their  ordinanae  Congress  had  declared 
that  THE  NEW  States  should  be  repubUcan,  and 
have  no  slavery."^ 

In  the  Ratification  Convention  of  North  Carolina, 
Mr.  Iredell,  afterwards  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  observed,  "When  the 
entire  abolition  of  slavery  takes  place,  it  will  be  an 
event  which  must  be  pleasing  to  every  generous 
mind  and  every  friend  of  human  nature." 

In  tne  Ratification  Convention  of  Virginia,  Mr. 
Johnson  said,  "  The  principle  of  emancipation  has 
begun  since  the  revolution.  Let  us  do  what  we 
will,  it  will  come  round." 

In  the  course  of  the  debate  in  the  Congress  of  1 789, 
the  first  under  the  Constitution,  on  a  petition  against 
the  slave-trade,  Mr.  Parker,  of  Virginia,  remarked, 
that  «  he  hoped  Congress  would  do  all  that  lay  in 
their  power  to  restore  human  nature  to  its  inherent 
privileges,  and,  if  possible,  wipe  off  the  stigma 
which  America  laboured  under.  The  inconsistency 
in  our  principles,  with  which  we  are  justly  charged, 
should  be  done  away,  that  we  may  show  by  our 
actions  the  pure  beneficence  of  the  doctrine  which 
we  held  out  to  the  world  in  our  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence." In  the  same  debate  Mr.  Brown,  of 
North  Carolina,  observed,  «  The  emancipation  of  the 
slaves  will  be  eflected  in  time:  it  ought  to  be  a 
gradual  business ;  but  he  hoped  Congress  xcould  not 
precipitate  it  to  the  great  injury  of  the  Southern 
States."  And  Mr.  Jackson,  of  Georgia,  complained, 
«  That  it  was  the  fashion  of  the  dax  to  favour 
the  liberty  of  the  slaves." 

These  citations  might  be  indefinitely  multiplied, 
but  we  forbear.  Well  might  Mr.  Leigh,  of  Virginia, 
remark,  in  1832,  «I  thought,  till  very  lately,  that  it 
WAS  KNOWN  TO  EVERTBODx,  that  during  the  revo- 
lution, and  for  many  years  after,  the  abolition  of 
slave?  y  loas  a  favourite  topic  with  many  of  our  ablest 
statesmen,  who  entertained,  with  respect,  all  the 
schemes  which  wisdom  or  ingenuity  could  suggest 
for  accomplishing  the  object." 

Dr.  Rush,  of  Pennsylvania,  declared  slavery  to  be  "  re- 
pugnant to  the  principles  of  Christianity,  and  rebellion 
against  the  authority  of  a  common  Father." 

3  In  the  same  Convention,  in  reference  to  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Constitution  that  Congress  should  have 
power  to  stop  the  domestic  slave-trade,  called  in  that  in- 
strument "the  migration  of  persons,"  Judge  Dawes  re- 
marked, that  "slavery  had  received  its  death-wound,  and 
would  die  of  consumption.'' 
a2 


The  CoNSEauESCEs  expected  to  follow  such 
Acts  axd  Opinions. 

Fellow-Citizens :  The  public  acts,  and  the  recorded 
opinions  of  the  fathers  of  the  revolution  are  before 
you.  Let  us  pause  here.  Let  us  reflect  what  would 
have  been  the  condition  of  the  country  had  the  ori- 
ginal policy  of  the  nation  been  steadily  pursued,  and 
contrast  what  would  have  been  with  what  is. 

At  the  time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New 
Hampshire,  and  Pennsylvania,  had  become  non- 
slaveholding  States.  By  the  ordinance  of  1787, 
provision  had  been  made  for  the  erection  of  five 
other  non-slaveholding  States.  The  admission  of 
Vermont  and  the  District  of  Maine,  as  separate 
States,  vnthout  slavery,  was  also  anticipated.  There 
was  no  doubt  that  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
would  follow  the  example  of  Pennsylvania.  I'hus 
it  was  supposed  to  be  certain  that  the  Union  would 
ultimately  embrace  at  least  fourteen  free  States,  and 
that  slavery  would  be  excluded  from  all  territory 
thereafter  acquired  by  the  nation,  and  from  all 
States  created  out  of  such  territory. 

This  was  the  true  understanding  upon  which  the 
Constitution  was  adopted.  It  was  never  imagined 
that  new  slave  States  were  to  be  admitted  ;  unless, 
perhaps,  which  seems  probable,  it  was  contemplated 
to  admit  the  western  districts  of  Virginia  and  North 
Carolina,  now  known  as  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
as  States,  without  any  reference  to  the  slavery  already 
established  in  them.  In  no  event,  to  which  our 
fathers  looked  forward,  could  the  number  of  slave 
States  exceed  eight,  while  it  was  almost  certain  that 
the  number  of  free  States  would  be  at  least  fourteen. 
[t  was  never  supposed  that  slavery  was  to  be  a 
cherished  interest  of  the  country,  or  even  a  perma- 
nent institution  of  any  State.  It  was  expected  that 
all  the  States,  stimulated  by  the  examples  before 
them,  and  urged  by  their  own  avowed  principles 
recorded  in  the  Declaration,  would,  at  no  distant  day, 
put  an  end  to  slavery  within  their  respective  limits. 
So  strong  was  this  expectation,  that  James  Camp- 
bell, in  an  address  at  Philadelphia,  before  the  So- 
ciety of  the  Cincinnati,  in  1787,  which  was  attended 
by  the  Constitution  Convention,  then  in  session, 
declared  "  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  our  sister 
States,  in  imitation  of  our  example,  shall  turn  their 
vassals  into  freemen."  And  Jonathan  Edwards  pre- 
dicted in  1791,  that,  "in  fifty  years  from  this  time, 
it  will  be  as  disgraceful  for  a  man  to  hold  a  negro 
slave,  as  to  be  guilty  of  common  robbery  or  theft." 

*  The  whole  number  of  representatives  in  the  House, 
is  333.  Ofthese  the  free  States  have  135,  the  slave,  88  ; 
and  ofthese  8  8,  but  G8  are  the  representatives  of  freemen, 
the  remaining  30  being  representatives  of  slave  pro- 
perty. 

The  manner  in  vi'hich  the  present  ratio  of  representation 
was  fixed,  is  one  which  should  cover  with  lasting  disgrace 
the  northern  representatives,  who  voted  for  it.  The  num- 
ber fixed  by  the  House,  was  one  represerAative  for  every 
50,189  inhabitants.  This  would  have  given  them  306 
members  ;  but  the  Senate,  fearing  the  influence  of  so  large 
a  body  of  freemen  as  this  would  give,  sent  back  the  bill, 
with  the  ratio  of  70,6  80,  which  would  reduce  the  House 
to  333,  and  give  the  free  States  a  majority  of  47,  instead 
of  68.  But  why  the  odd  number,  6801  It  deprives  four 
great  States  of  the  J^orth,  namely,  Massachusetts,  J^Tew 
York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  of  one  member  each. 

Even  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald  could 
thus  write  at  the  time  :  "  The  Senate  apportionment  has 


It  cannot  be  doubted  that,  had  the  original  policy 
and  original  principles  of  the  Government  been 
adhered  to,  this  expectation  would  have  been  real- 
ized. The  example  and  influence  of  the  General 
Government  would  have  been  on  the  side  of  freedom. 
Slavery  would  have  ceased  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia immediately  upon  the  establishment  of  the  Go- 
vernment within  its  limits.  Slavery  would  have 
disappeared  from  Louisiana  and  Florida  upon  the 
acquisition  of  those  territories  by  the  United  State-s. 
No  laws  would  have  been  enacted,  no  treaties  made, 
no  measures  taken  for  the  extension  or  maintenance 
of  slavery.  Amid  the  rejoicings  of  all  the  free,  and 
the  congratulations  of  all  friends  of  freedom,  the  last 
fetter  would,  ere  now,  have  been  stricken  from  the 
last  slave,  and  the  principles  and  institutions  of 
liberty  would  have  pervaded  the  entire  land. 

Actual  Results. 

How  different — how  sadly  different  are  the  facts 
of  history  !  Luthek  Martin  complained,  at  the 
time  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  "that 
when  our  own  liberties  were  at  stake,  we  warmly 
felt  for  the  common  rights  of  men  :  the  danger  being 
thought  to  be  passed  which  threatened  ourselves,  we 
are  daily  growing  more  and  more  insensible  to  those 
rights."  This  insensibility  continued  to  increase, 
and  prepared  the  way  for  the  encroachments  of  the 
political  slave  power,  which  originated  in  the  three- 
fifths  rule  of  the  Constitution.  This  rule,  designed, 
perhaps,  as  a  censure  upon  slavery,  by  denying  to 
the  slave  States  the  full  representation  to  which 
their  population  would  entitle  them,  has  had  a  very 
different  practical  effect.  It  has  virtually  established 
in  the  country  an  aristocracy  of  slaveholders.  It 
has  conferred  on  masters  the  right  of  representation 
for  three-fifths  of  their  slaves.  The  representation 
from  the  slave  States  in  Congress  has  always  been 
from  one-fifth  to  one-fourth  greater  than  it  would 
have  been,  were  freemen  only  represented.4  Under 
the  first  apportionment,  according  to  this  rate,  a  dis- 
trict in  a  free  State  containing  thirty  thousand  free 
inhabitants  would  have  one  representative.  A  dis- 
trict in  a  slave  State,  containing  three  thousand  free 
persons  and  forty-five  thousand  slaves,  would  also 
have  one.  In  the  first  district  a  representative  could 
be  elected  only  by  the  majority  of  five  thousand 
votes :  in  the  other,  he  would  need  only  the  majority 
of  five  hundred.  Of  course,  the  representation  from 
slave  States,  elected  by  a  much  smaller  constituency, 
and  bound  together  by  a  common  tie,  would  gene- 
rally act  in  concert,  and  always  with  special  regard 


robbed  the  north  of  at  least  one  quarter  of  its  practical  in- 
fluence in  the  Union,  when  regarded  in  its  full  extent; 
and  the  members  of  the  free  States  who  voted  for  it,  have 
thus  surrendered  the  rights  of  their  constituents,  and  vio- 
lated their  trusts." 

It  is  curious,  also,  to  look  at  the  fractions  unrepresented. 
The  slave  States  have  but  140,093;  the  free,  318,678. 
The  fraction  of  Virginia  is  but  3!  that  of  Pennsylvania., 
37,687. 

In  the  Presidential  contest  of  1841,  the  slave  States  had 
114  electors;  the  free,  161;  while  the  whole  popular 
vote  of  the  slave  States  was  but  693,434;  the  free, 
1,710,041.  That  is,  while  the  free  States  had  but  about 
two-fifths  more  in  the  number  of  electors,  they  had  nearly 
three  times  as  many  popular  votes.  Pennsylvania  had  36 
electors,  and  a  popular  vote  of  38  7,697 ;  while  Delaware, 
Maryland,  and  Virginia  together,  had  38  electors,  and  but 
159,535  popular  vote  :  that  is,  with  but  little  more  than 
half  the  popular  vote  they  had  two  more  electors. 


to  the  interests  of  masters  whose  representatives  in 
fact  they  were.  Every  aristocracy  in  the  world  has 
sustained  itself  by  encroachment,  and  the  aristocracy 
of  slaveholders  in  this  country  has  not  been  an 
exception  to  the  general  truth.  The  nation  has 
always  been  divided  into  parties,  and  the  slavehold- 
ers, by  making  the  protection  and  advancement  of 
their  peculiar  interests  the  price  of  their  political 
support,  have  generally  succeeded  in  controlUng  all. 
This  influence  has  greatly  increased  the  insensibility 
to  human  rights,  of  which  Martik  indignantly 
complained.  It  has  upheld  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia  and  in  the  Territories  in  spite  of  the 
Constitution :  it  has  added  to  the  Union  six  slave 
States  created  out  of  national  Territories  :*  it  has 
usurped  the  control  of  our  foreign  negotiation,-)-  and 
domestic  legislation  -4  it  has  dictated  the  choice  of 
the  high  officers  of  our  Government  at  home,§  and 
of  our  national  representatives  abroad  :||  it  has  filled 
every  department  of  executive  and  judicial  adminis- 
tration with  its  friends  and  satellites:!  it  has  detained 
in  slavery  multitudes  who  are  constitutionally  enti- 
tled to  their  freedom :  it  has  waged  unrelenting  war 
with  the  most  sacred  rights  of  the  free,  stifling  the 
freedom  of  speeches  and  of  debate,  setting  at  naught 

*  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
and  Florida. 

f  It  is  well  known  that  by  far  the  greater  number  of 
our  foreign  ministers  have  been  from  the  Slave  States,  and 
that  they  have  ever  been  most  vigilant  to  promote  the 
interests  of  those  Slates,  while  the  far  more  important 
interests  of  the  Free  States  have  been,  comparatively,  neg- 
lected. In  1841,  out  of  seven  persons  nominated,  in  suc- 
cession, for  diplomatic  stations,  six  were  from  the  Slave 
States,  which  were  all  immediately  confirmed,  while  the 
nomination  of  the  seventh,  Edward  Everett  of  Massachu- 
setts, was  laid  on  the  table,  till  the  slaveholders  could 
satisfy  themselves  that  he  had  no  views  adverse  to  their 
"peculiar  institutions." 

What  untold  benefit  would  it  have  been  to  our  Free 
States,  if  foreign  nations  had  been  induced,  as  they  doubt- 
less might  have  been,  to  favour  our  agricultural  and  manu- 
facturing products,  as  they  have  been  induced,  by  slave- 
holding  ministers,  to  favour  cotton,  tobacco,  and  rice  ! 

i  No  one  man  has  so  much  influence  over  our  "  domestic 
legislation,"  as  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. He  it  is  that  appoints  all  the  committees,  which 
committees  bring  before  the  House  such  subjects,  and  pre- 
sent them  in  such  aspects,  as  best  suit  their  views.  Since 
the  organization  of  our  government,  in  1789,  out  of  the 
56  years,  the  Slave  States  have  had  the  speaker  38  years, 
the  Free,  1 8  years.  With  the  exception  of  John  W.  Taylor, 
of  New  York,  who  served  three  years,  the  Free  States 
did  not  give  a  speaker  to  the  House  from  1809  to  1845. 

$  Of  the  TEN  Presidents,  since  1789,  the  Slave  States 
have  had  six,  who  will  have  served,  at  the  end  of  the  pre- 
sent term,  44:  years  ;  the  Free  States  four,  who  have 
served  16  years.  In  this.  Gen.  Harrison's  whole  term  of 
four  years  is  reckoned.  What  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  is, 
that  no  Northern  President  has  served  more  than  one  term. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  President,  is  the  office  of  Sec- 
retary of  Slate,  as  he  manages  all  the  business  and  cor- 
respondence with  foreign  courts,  instructs  our  foreign 
ministers,  and  negotiates  all  treaties.  Of  the  15  who  have 
filled  this  office,  up  to  1845,  the  Slave  States  have  had  10, 
who  have  served  37  years  ;  the  Free  States  5,  who  have 
served  19  years. 

II  In  nothing  is  the  gross  injustice  practised  towards  the 
Free  States,  more  conspicuous  than  in  the  persons  em- 
ployed in  those  civil  Executive  offices,  at  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, and  in  those  Diplomatic  and  Consular  stations 
abroad,  where  the  compensation  is  by  salary.  In  the  fol- 
lowing list  we  give  the  persons  employed  in  a  few  of  the 
States,  with  their  salaries,  and  the  number  of  free  white 
inhabitants  of  the  respective  States. 


the  right  of  petition,  and  denying  in  the  slave  States 
those  immunities  to  the  citizens  of  the  free,  which 
the  Constitution  guaranties:  and,  finally,  it  has 
dictated  the  acquisition  of  an  immense  foreign  terri- 
tory, not  for  the  laudable  purpose  of  extending  the 
blessings  of  freedom,  but  with  the  bad  design  of 
diffusing  the  curse  of  slavery,  and  thereby  consoli- 
dating and  perpetuating  its  own  ascendency. 

What  we  meajt  to  do. 
Against  this  influence,  against  these  infractions  of 
the  Constitution,  against  these  departures  from  the 
national  policy  originally  adopted,  against  these  vio- 
lations of  the  national  faith  originally  pledged,  we 
solemnly  protest.  Nor  do  we  propose  only  to  pro- 
test. We  recognize  the  obligations  which  rest  upon 
us  as  descendants  of  the  men  of  the  revolution,  as 
inheritors  of  the  institutions  which  they  estabUshed, 
as  partakers  of  the  blessings  which  they  so- dearly 
purchased,  to  carry  forward  and  perfect  their  work. 
We  mean  to  do  it,  wisely  and  prudently,  but  with 
energy  and  decision.  We  have  the  example  of  our 
fathers  on  oiu:  side.  We  have  the  Constitution  of 
their  adoption  on  our  side.  It  is  our  duty,  and  our 
purpose,  to  rescue  the  Government  from  the  control 


Persons. 


Virginia 
New  York 
Maryland 
Pennsylvania 
District  of  Co. 
Massachusetts 
Kentucky 
'Ohio 


114 

37 

133 

90 

99 

43 

7 

6 


Salaries. 

$^00,395 

63,350 

170,305 

133,790 

77,455 

86,345 

34,150 

4,400 


Free  population. 
740,968 
3,378,890  ( 
318,304; 
1,676,115 
30,657; 
739,030 
590,353; 
1,503,133 


T[  The  Judiciary  is  the  balance-wheel  of  our  government. 
It  takes  cognizance  of  questions  of  the  highest  earthly 
moment— questions  of  constitutional  law — questions  of 
chartered  rights  and  privileges— questions  involving  mil- 
lions of  property— and,  above  all,  questions  that  decide 
the  liberty  and  slavery  of  man.  If  there  be  any  spot,  there- 
fore, that  should  be  free  from  sectional  bias,  it  is  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  the  judges  of  which 
should  be  appointed,  not  only  for  their  high  legal  attain- 
ments and  integrity,  but  with  reference  to  the  number  of 
inhabitants,  and,  consequently,  to  the  legal  interests  of 
the  different  parts  of  the  country.  But  how  entirely 
opposite  has  been  the  practice.  Of  the  30  Judges  of  that 
Court,  the  Slave  States  have  had  17;  the  Free  States  13  ; 
and  that,  too,  while  the  free  inhabitantsof  the  Slave  States 
are  but  about  four  and  a  half  millions  ;  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Free  States  nine  and  a  half  millions— more  than 
double. 

Then  look  at  the  most  unjust  manner  in  which  the  cir- 
cuits are  divided.  Vermont,  Connecticut,  and  New  York, 
with  43  representatives  in  Congress,  and  a  free  population 
of  over  three  vdllions,  constitute  one  circuit ;  while  Ala- 
bama and  Louisiana,  with  but  11  representatives,  and  a 
free  population  of  but  half  a  million,  constitute  another 
circuit.  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  with  a  population 
of  two  millions,  constitute  the  third  circuit.  Mississippi 
and  Arkansas,  with  a  free  population  of  but  half  a  million, 
constitute  the  ninth  circuit.  We  say  free  population, 
because  the  poor  slave  has  nothing  to  do  with  courts  of 
law,  having  no  legal  rights  to  maintain. 

Lastly,  observe  the  same  inequality  and  injustice,  carried 
out  in  the  salaries  of  the  Judges.  Louisiana,  with  a  free 
population  of  183,959,  has  one  Judge  at  a  salary  of 
3000  dollars;  Ohio,  with  a  population  of  1,519,464, 
more  than  eight  times  as  great  as  that  of  Louisiana,  has 
only  one  Judge,  at  a  salary  of  1000  :  that  is,  while  he 
has  more  than  eight  times  as  many  people  to  do  business 
for,  he  receives  but  one  third  as  much  pay.  Arkansas, 
with  a  free  population  of  77,639,  has  one  Judge  at  a 
salary  of  3000  dollars ;  New  Hampshire,  with  a  popula- 


? 


of  the  slaveholders ;  to  harmonize  its  practical  ad- 
ministration with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution, 
and  to  secure  to  all,  without  exception,  and  without 
partiality,  the  rights  which  the  Constitution  guaran- 
ties. We  believe  that  slaveholding,  in  the  United 
States,  is  the  source  of  numberless  evils,  moral, 
social  and  political ;  that  it  hinders  social  progress ; 
that  it  embitters  public  and  private  intercourse ;  that 
it  degrades  us  as  individuals,  as  States,  and  as  a 
nation ;  that  it  holds  back  our  country  from  a  splendid 
career  of  greatness  and  glory.  We  are,  therefore, 
resolutely,  inflexibly,  at  all  times,  and  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, hostile  to  its  longer  continuance  in  our 
land.  We  believe  that  its  removal  can  be  effected 
peacefully,  constitutionally,  without  real  injury  to 
any,  with  the  greatest  benefit  to  all. 

How    WE    MEAK    TO    DO    IT. 

We  propose  to  effect  this  by  repealing  all  legisla- 
tion, and  discontinuing  all  action,  in  favour  of  slavery, 
at  home  and  abroad ;  by  prohibiting  the  practice  of 
slaveholding  in  all  places  of  exclusive  national  juris- 
diction, in  the  District  of  Columbia,  in  American 
vessels  upon  the  seas,  in  forts,  arsenals,  navy  yards ; 
by  forbidding  the  employment  of  slaves  upon  any 
public  work ;  by  adopting  resolutions  in  Congress, 
declaring  that  slaveholding,  in  all  States  created  out 
of  national  territories,  is  unconstitutional,  and  re- 
commending to  the  others  the  immediate  adoption 
of  measures  for  its  extinction  within  their  respective 
limits;  and  by  electing  and  appointing  to  public 
station  such  men,  and  only  such  men  as  openly 
avow  our  principles,  and  will  honestly  carry  out  our 
measures. 

The  constitutionality  of  this  line  of  action  cannot 
be  successfully  impeached.  That  it  will  terminate, 
if  steadily  pursued,  in  the  utter  overthrow  of  slavery 
at  no  very  distant  day,  none  will  doubt.  We  adopt 
it,  because  we  desire,  through,  and  by  the  Constitu- 
tion, to  attain  the  great  ends  which  the  Constitution 
itself  proposes,  the  establishment  of  justice,  and  the 
security  of  liberty.  We  insist  not,  here,  upon  the 
opinions  of  some,  that  no  slaveholding,  in  any  State 
of  the  Union,  is  compatible  with  a  true  and  just 


tion  of  384,573,  has  but  one  Judge,  at  a  salary  of  1000 
dollars.  Mississi|)pi,  with  a  free  population  of  180,440, 
has  one  Judge,  who  receives  3500  dollars  ;  Indiana,  with 
a  population  of  685,863,  has  but  one  Judge,  who  re- 
ceives only  1000  dollars;  receiving  but  two-fifths  as 
much  pay  for  doing  more  than  three  times  the  work. 

*  The  following  is  a  portion  of  the  Address  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Convention,  held  in  Philadelphia,  February  22, 1844. 

"The  great  object  of  the  Liberty  party  is,  in  the  words 
of  the  Constitution,  'to  establish  justice;  to  secure 

THE  BLESSINGS  OF  LIBERTY.'  It  is,  ABSOLUTE  AND  UN- 
QUALIFIED DIVORCE  OF  THE  General  Government  from 
ALL  connection  WITH  SLAVERY.  We  would  say,  in  the 
fervent  language  of  that  noble  son  of  freedom,  Cassius 
M.  Clay,  of  Kentucky, '  Let  the  whole  North,  in  a  mass, 
in  conjunction  with  the  patriotic  of  the  South,  withdraw  the 
moral  sanction  and  legal  power  of  the  Union  from  the  sus- 
tainment  of  slavery.'  We  would  employ  every  constitu- 
tional means  to  eradicate  it  from  our  entire  country,  be- 
cause it  would  be  for  the  highest  welfare  of  our  entire  coun- 
try. We  would  have  liberty  established  in  the  District,  and 
in  all  the  Territories.  We  would  put  a  stop  to  the  internal 
slave  trade,  pronounced,  even  by  Thomas  Jefferson  Ran- 
dolph, of  Virginia,  to  be  'worse  and  more  odious  than  the 
foreign  slave  trade  itself.'  We  would,  in  the  words  of 
the  Constitution,  have  '  the  citizens  of  each  State  have 
all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several 
States ;'   and  not,  for,  the  colour  of  their  skin,  be  sub- 


construction  of  the  Constitution;  nor  upon  the 
opinions  of  others,  that  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, setting  forth  the  creed  of  the  nation,  that 
all  men  are  created  equal,  and  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  an  inalienable  right  of  liberty,  must  be 
regarded  as  the  common  law  of  America,  antece- 
dent to,  and  unimpaired  by,  the  Constitution;  nor 
need  we  appeal  to  the  doctrine  that  slaveholding  is 
contrary  to  the  supreme  law  of  the  Supreme  Ruler, 
preceding  and  controlling  all  human  law,  and  bind- 
ing upon  all  legislatures  in  the  enactment  of  laws, 
and  upon  all  courts  in  the  administration  of  justice. 
We  are  willing  to  take  our  stand  upon  propositions 
generally  conceded : — that  slaveholding  is  contrary 
to  natural  right  and  justice;  that  it  can  subsist  no- 
where without  the  sanction  and  aid  of  positive  legis- 
lation; that  the  Constitution  expressly  prohibits 
Congress  from  depriving  any  person  of  liberty  with- 
out due  process  of  law.  From  these  propositions 
we  deduce,  by  logical  inference,  the  doctrines  upon 
which  we  insist.  We  deprecate  all  discord  among 
the  States ;  but  do  not  dread  discord  so  much  as  we 
do  the  subjugation  of  the  States  and  the  people  to 
the  yoke  of  the  slaveholding  oligarchy.  We  depre- 
cate the  dissolution  of  the  Union,  as  a  dreadful  poli- 
tical calamity ;  but  if  any  of  the  States  shall  prefer 
dissolution  to  submission  to  the  Constitutional  action 
of  the  people  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  we  cannot 
purchase  their  alliance  by  the  sacrifice  of  inestima- 
ble rights,  and  the  abandonment  of  sacred  duties. 

Such,  fellow  citizens,  are  our  views,  principles, 
and  objects.*  We  invite  your  co-operation  in  the 
great  work  of  delivering  our  beloved  country  from 
the  evils  of  slavery.  No  question  half  so  important 
as  that  of  slavery,  engages  the  attention  of  the 
American  people.  All  others,  in  fact,  dwindle  into 
insignificance  in  comparison  with  it.  The  question 
of  slavery  is,  and,  until  it  shall  be  settled,  must  be, 
the  paramount  moral  and  political  question  of  the 
day.  We,  at  least,  so  regard  it ;  and,  so  regarding 
it,  must  subordinate  every  other  question  to  it. 

It  follows,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  that  we 
cannot  yield  otir  political  support  to  any  party  which 
does  not  take  our  ground  upon  this  question. 


jected  to  every  indignity  and  abuse,  and  wrong,  and  even 
imprisonment,  (a)  We  would  have  equal  taxation.  We 
would  have  the  seas  free.  We  would  have  a  free  and 
secure  post-office.  We  would  have  liberty  of  speech  and 
of  the  press,  which  the  Constitution  guaranties  to  us. 
We  would  have  our  members  in  Congress  utter  their 
thoughts  freely,  without  threats  from  the  pistol  or  the 
bowie  knife.  We  would  have  the  right  of  petition  most 
sacredly  regarded.  We  would  secure  to  every  man  what 
the  Constitution  secures,  'the  right  of  trial  by  jury.' 
We  would  do  what  we  can  for  the  encouragement  and 
improvement  of  the  coloured  race.  We  would  look  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  country,  and  the  tchole  country, 
and  not  legislate  for  the  good  of  an  Oligarchy,  the  most 
arrogant  that  ever  lorded  it  over  an  insulted  people.  We 
would  have  our  commercial  treaties  with  foreign  nations 
regard  the  interests  of  the  Free  States.  We  would  pro- 
vide safe,  adequate,  and  permanent  markets  for  the  pro* 
duce  of  free  labour.  And,  when  reproached  with  slavery, 
we  would  be  able  to  say  to  the  world,  with  an  open  front 
and  a  clear  conscience,  our  General  Government  has  no- 
thing to  do  with  it,  either  to  promote,  to  sustain,  to  defend, 
to  sanction,  or  to  approve." 


(a)  Read  the  memorial  of  citizens  of  Boston,  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  on  the  imprisonment  of  free 
citizens  of  Massachusetts  by  the  authorities  of  Savannah, 
Charleston,  and  New  Orleans. 


The  Different  Pakties. 
1.  The  Democratic  Party. 

What,  then,  is  the  position  of  the  poUtical  parties 
of  the  country  in  relation  to  this  subject?  One  of 
tliese  parties  professes  to  be  guided  by  the  most 
liberal  principles.  "Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all 
men ;"  "  equal  rights  for  all  men ;"  « inflexible  oppo- 
sition to  oppression,"  are  its  favourite  mottoes.  It 
claims  to  be  the  true  friend  of  popular  government, 
and  assumes  the  name  of  Democratic.  Among  its 
members  are,  doubtless,  many  who  cherish  its  pro- 
fessions as  sacred  principles,  and  believe  that  great 
cause  of  Freedom  and  Progress  is  to  be  served  by 
promoting  its  ascendency.  But  when  we  compare 
the  maxims  of  the  so-called  Democratic  party  with 
its  acts,  its  hypocrisy  is  plainly  revealed.  Among 
its  leading  members  we  find  the  principal  slave- 
holders, the  chiefs  of  the  oUgarchy.  It  has  never 
scrupled  to  sacrifice  the  rights  of  the  Free  States,  or 
of  the  people,  to  the  demands  of  the  slave  power. 
Like  Sir  Pertinax  McSycophant,  its  northern  leaders 
beUeve  that  the  great  secret  of  advancement  lies  m 
"  bowing  well."  No  servility  seems  too  gross,  no 
self  degradation  too  great,  to  be  submitted  to.*  They 
think  themselves  well  rewarded,  if  the  unity  of  the 
party  be  preserved,  and  the  spoils  of  victory  secured. 
If,  in  the  distribution  of  these  spoils,  they  receive 
only  the  jackall's  share,  they  content  themselves 
with  the  reflection  that  little  is  better  than  nothing. 
They  declaim  loudly  against  all  monopolies,  all  spe- 
cial privileges,  all  encroachments  on  personal  rights, 
all  distinctions  founded  upon  birth,  and  compensate 
themselves  for  these  efforts  of  virtue,  by  practising 
the  vilest  oppression  upon  all  their  countrymen,  in 
whose  complexions  the  slightest  trace  of  African 
derivation  can  be  detected. 

Profoundly  do  we  revere  the  maxims  of  true 
Democracy;  they  are  identical  with  those  of  true 
Christianity,  in  relation  to  the  rights  and  duties  of 
men  as  citi/ens.  And  our  reverence  for  Democratic 
principles  is  the  precise  measure  of  our  detestation 
of  the  policy  of  those  who  are  permitted  to  shape 
the  action  of  the  Democratic  party.  Political  con- 
cert with  that  party,  under  its  present  leadership,  is, 
therefore,  plainly  impossible.  Nor  do  we  entertain 
the  hope,  which  many,  no  doubt,  honestly  cherish, 
that  the  professed  principles  of  the  party  will,  at 
length,  bring  it  right  upon  the  question  of  slavery. 
Its  professed  principles  have  been  the  same  for  nearly 
half  a  century,  and  yet  the  subjection  of  the  party 
to  the  slave  power  is,  at  this  moment,  as  complete 
as  ever.  There  is  no  prospect  of  any  change  for 
the  better,  until  those  democrats  whose  hearts  are 
really  possessed  by  a  generous  love  of  liberty  for  all, 
and  by  an  honest  hatred  of  oppression,  shall  man- 


*  The  following  is  a  brief  history  of  the  several  resolu- 
tions which  have  passed  the  House  of  Representatives 
since  1836,  against  the  consideration  of  any  petitions  re- 
specting slavery.  They  are  familiarly  called  "Gag  Reso- 
lutions," and  go  by  the  name  of  the  persons  who  intro- 
duced them. 

Pinckney's  Gag  was  passed  May  26, 1836,  by  a  major- 
ity of  46.  Of  the  11 T  yeas,  83  were  from  the  Free 
States. 

Hawcs's  Gag,  January  18,  1837,  by  a  majority  of  58. 
Of  the  yeas,  70  were  from  the  Free  States. 

Patton's  Gag,  December  31,  1838,  by  a  majority  of  48. 
Of  the  yeas,  sa  were  from  the  Free  States. 

Atherton's  Gag,  January  12, 1839,  by  a  majority  of  48. 
2 


fully  assert  their  individual  independence,  and^refuse 
their  support  to  the  panders  of  slavery. 

2.  The  Whig  Party. 

There  is  another  party  which  boasts  that  it  is 
conservative  in  its  character.  Its  watchwords  are 
"  a  tariff,"  "  a  banking  system,"  « the  Union  as  it 
is."  Among  its  members,  also,  are  many  sincere 
opponents  of  slavery ;  and  the  party  itself,  seeking 
aid  in  the  attainment  of  power,  and  anxious  to 
carry  its  favourite  measures,  and  bound  together  by 
no  such  professed  principles  as  secure  the  unity  of 
the  Democratic  party,  often  concedes  much  to  their 
anti-slavery  views.  It  is  not  unwilling,  in  those 
States  and  parts  of  States  where  anti-slavery  senti- 
ment prevails,  to  assume  an  anti-slavery  attitude, 
and  claim  to  be  an  anti-slavery  party.  Like  the 
Democratic  party,  however,  the  Whig  party  main- 
taurs  alliances  with  the  slaveholders.  It  proposes, 
in  its  national  conventions,  no  action  against  slavery. 
It  has  no  anti-slavery  article  in  its  national  creed. 
Among  its  leaders  and  champions  in  Congress,  and 
out  of  Congress,  none  are  so  honoured  and  trusted 
as  slaveholders,  in  practice  and  in  principle.  What- 
ever the  Whig  party,  therefore,  concedes  to  anti- 
slavery,  must  be  reluctantly  conceded.  Its  natural 
position  is  conservative.  Its  natural  line  of  action 
is  to  maintain  things  as  they  are.  Its  natural  bond 
of  union  is  regard  for  interests  rather  than  for  rights. 
There  are,  doubtless,  zealous  opponents  of  slavery, 
who  are  also  zealous  Whigs ;  but  they  have  not  the 
general  confidence  of  their  party ;  they  are  under 
the  ban  of  the  slaveholders ;  and  in  any  practical 
anti-slavery  movement,  as,  for  example,  the  repeal 
of  the  laws  which  sanction  slaveholding  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  would  meet  the  determined  oppo- 
sition of  a  large  and  most  influential  section  of  the 
party,  not  because  the  people  of  the  Free  States 
would  be  opposed  to  the  measure,  but  because  it 
would  be  displeasing  to  the  oUgarchy  and  fatal  to 
party  unity.  We  are  constrained  to  think,  there- 
fore, that  all  expectation  of  efficient  anti-slavery 
action  from  the  Whig  party,  as  now  organized,  will 
prove  delusive.  Nor  do  we  perceive  any  probability 
of  a  change  in  its  organization,  separating  its  anti- 
slavery  from  its  pro-slavery  constituents,  and  leaving 
the  former  in  possession  of  the  name  and  influence 
of  the  party.  With  the  Whig  party,  therefore,  as 
at  present  organized,  it  is  as  impossible  for  us,  whose 
mottoes  are  "  Equal  Rights  and  Fair  Wages  for  all," 
and  « the  Union  as  it  should  be,"  to  act  in  alliance 
and  concert,  as  it  is  for  us  so  to  act  with  the  so- 
called  Democratic  party.  We  cannot  choose  be- 
tween these  parties  for  the  sake  of  any  local  or  par- 
tial advantage,  without  sacrificing  consistency,  self- 


Of  the  yeas,  49  vvere  from  the  Free  States,  and  all  of 
THE  Democratic  Party. 

Johnson's  Gag,  January  28,  1840,  by  a  majority  of  6. 
Of  the  yeas,  38  were  from  the  Free  States,  and  all  but 
ONE  OF  the  Democratic  Party.  But  none  of  these 
"  gags"  would  have  been  carried  had  itnot  been  for  South- 
ern Whigs.  Of  the  yeas  for  Johnson's  Gag,  40  vvere 
Whigs  from  the  Slave  States.  Tliis,  as  well  as  every 
other  important  subject  of  legislation  in  Congress  for  the 
last  thirty  years,  shows  clearly,  that  with  the  South,  all 
party  distinctions  give  way  at  once,  at  the  bidding  of 
slavery.  When  Northern  men  shall  be  as  united  for  liberty 
as  Southern  men  have  been  for  slavery,  how  soon  will  our 
country  be  free  from  its  present  reproach! 


10 


respect,  and  mutual  confidence.  While  we  say 
this,  we  are  bound  to  add,  that  were  either  of  these 
parties  to  disappoint  our  expectations,  and  to  adopt 
into  its  national  creed  as  its  leading  articles,  the 
principles  which  we  regard  as  fundamental,  and 
enter  upon  a  course  of  unfeigned  and  earnest  action 
against  the  system  of  slavery,  we  should  not  hesi- 
tate, regarding,  as  we  do,  the  question  of  slavery  as 
the  paramount  question  of  our  day  and  nation,  to 
give  to  it  our  cordial  and  vigorous  support,  until 
slavery  should  be  no  more. 

With  what  party,  then,  shall  we  act  1  Or  shall 
we  act  with  none  1  Act,  in  some  way,  we  must : 
for  the  possession  of  the  right  of  suffrage,  the  right 
of  electing  our  own  law-makers  and  rulers,  imposes 
upon  us  the  corresponding  duty  of  voting  for  men 
who  will  carry  out  the  views  which  we  deem  of 
paramount  importance  and  obligation.  Act  together 
we  must;  for  upon  the  questions  which  we  regard 
as  the  most  vital  we  are  fully  agreed.  We  must 
act  then ;  act  together ;  and  act  against  slavery  and 
oppression.  Acting  thus,  we  necessarily  act  as  a 
party ;  for  what  is  a  party,  but  a  body  of  citizens, 
acting  together  politically,  in  good  faith,  upon  com- 
mon principles,  for  a  common  object]  And  if 
there  be  a  party  already  in  existence,  animated  by 
the  same  motives,  and  aiming  at  the  same  results, 
as  ourselves,  we  must  act  with  and  in  that  party. 

The  Liberty  Party. 

That  there  is  such  a  party,  is  well  known.  It  is 
the  Liberty  Party  of  the  United  States.  Its  princi- 
ples, measures,  and  objects  we  cordially  approve.  It 
founds  itself  upon  the  great  cardinal  principle  of 
true  Democracy  and  of  true  Christianity,  the  brother- 
hood of  the  Human  Family.  It  avows  its  purpose 
to  wage  implacable  war  against  slaveholding  as  the 
direst  form  of  oppression,  and  then  against  every 
other  species  of  tyranny  and  injustice.  Its  views 
on  the  subject  of  slavery  in  this  country  are,  in  the 
main,  the  same  as  those  which  we  have  set  forth  in 
this  address.  Its  members  agree  to  regard  the  ex- 
tinction of  slavery  as  the  most  important  end  which 
can,  at  this  time,  be  proposed  to  political  action; 
and  they  agree  to  differ  as  to  other  questions  of 
minor  importance,  such  as  those  of  trade  and  cur- 
rency, believing  that  these  can  be  satisfactorily  dis- 
posed of,  when  the  question  of  slavery  shall  be  set- 
tled, and  that,  until  then,  they  cannot  be  satisfacto- 
rily disposed  of  at  all. 

The  rise  of  such  a  party  as  this  was  anticipated 
long  before  its  actual  organization,  by  the  single- 
hearted  and  patriotic  Charles  Follen,  a  German  by 
birth,  but  a  true  American  by  adoption  and  in 
spirit.  "  If  there  ever  is  to  be  in  this  country,"  he 
said  in  1836,  «  a  party  that  shall  take  its  name  and 


character,  not  from  particular  liberal  measures  or 
popular  men,  but  from  its  uncompromising  and  con- 
sistent adherence  to  freedom — a  truly  liberal  and 
thoroughly  republican  party,  it  must  direct  its  first 
decided  effort  against  the  grossest  form,  the  most 
complete  manifestation  of  oppression ;  and,  having! 
taken  anti-slavery  ground,  it  must  cany  out  the; 
principle  of  Liberty  in  all  its  consequences.  Iti 
must  support  every  measure  conducive  to  the  great,t 
est  possible  individual  and  social,  moral,  intellectual^ 
religious,  and  political  freedom,  whether  that  measures 
be  brought  forward  by  inconsistent  slaveholders  or. 
consistent  fi^eemen.  It  must  embrace  the  whole 
sphere  of  human  action;  watching  and  opposing^ 
the  slightest  illiberal  and  anti-republican  tendencyj: 
and  concentrating  its  whole  force  and  influence 
against  slavery  itself,  in  comparison  with  which 
every  other  species  of  tyranny  is  tolerable,  and  bjl 
which  every  other  is  strengthened  and  justified."  i 
Thus  wrote  Charles  Follen  in  1836.  It  is  inm 
possible  to  express  better  the  want  which  enlightened 
lovers  of  liberty  felt  of  a  real  Democratic  party  iu 
the  country — Democratic  not  in  name  only,  but  iii 
deed  and  in  truth.  In  this  want,  thus  felt,  the 
Liberty  party  had  its  origin,*  and  so  long  as  this 
want  remains  otherwise  unsatisfied,  the  Liberty 
party  must  exist ;  not  as  a  mere  Abolition  party,  but 
as  a  truly  Democratic  party,  which  aims  at  the  ex- 
tinction of  slavery,  because  slaveholding  is  incon- 
sistent with  Democratic  principles ;  aims  at  it,  not 
as  an  ultimate  end,  but  as  the  most  important  pre- 
sent object;  as  a  great  and  necessary  step  in  the 
work  of  reform ;  as  an  illustrious  era  in  the  advance- 
ment of  society,  to  be  wrought  out  by  its  action  and 
instrumentality.  The  Liberty  party  of  1845  is,  in 
truth,  the  Liberty  party  of  1776  revived.  It  is 
more :  It  is  the  party  of  Advancement  and  Freedom, 
which  has,  in  every  age,  and  with  varying  success, 
fought  the  battles  of  Human  Liberty,  against  the 
party  of  False  Conservatism  and  Slavery. 

Will  you  kot  join  it  1 

And  now,  fellow  citizens,  permit  iss  to  ask,  whether 
you  will  not  give  to  this  party  the  aid  of  your 
votes,  and  of  your  counsels'?  Its  aims  are  lofty, 
and  noble,  and  pacific ;  its  means  are  simple  and 
unobjectionable.  Why  should  it  not  have  your 
co-operation  1 

Anti-Slavery  Men  ! 
Are  you  already  anti-slavery  men  1  Let  us  ask, 
is  it  not  far  better  to  act  with  those  with  whom  you 
agree  on  the  fundamental  point  of  slavery,  and 
swell  the  vote  and  augment  the  moral  force  of  anti- 
slavery,  rather  than  to  act  with  those  with  whom 
you  agree  only  on  minor  pomts ;  and  thus,  for  the 


*  The  Liberty  party,  at  the  Presidential  election  in 
1840,  gave  6983  votes;  at  the  election  in  1844,  it  gave 
6^,334:  votes.  Its  growth  has  been  regular,  and  as 
rapid  as  could  be  expected.  It  resorts  to  no  unworthy 
means  to  increase  its  numbers,  and  desires  others  to  join 
its  ranks,  only  as  they  are  convinced  of  the  truth  and 
righteousness  of  its  principles. 

Let  it  not,  however,  be  despised  for  its  yet  comparatively 
small  numbers.  The  great  philosophical  historian,  Milman, 
says,  "  It  is  erroneous  to  estimate  strength  and  influence 
by  numerical  calculation.  All  political  changes  are  wrought 
by  a  compact,  organized,  and  disciplined  minority."  This 
is  the  secret  of  the  success  of  the  slaveholders.    They 


have  controlled  the  government  for  the  past  fifty  years, 
because  they  have  been  a  ^^  compact,  organized,  and  disci- 
plined  minority."  It  is  computed,  on  a  careful  estimate, 
that  there  are  not  more  than  ^50,000  slaveholders  in  the 
land,  and  that  of  these,  deducting  widows,  minors,  and 
others,  there  are  not  more  than  150,000  voters.  When 
the  Liberty  party  shall  be  "a  compact,  organized,  and  dia- 
ciplined  minority"  of  such  a  size,  and  shall  control  the 
counsels  of  the  nation  in  favour  of  liberty,  as  the  slave- 
holders now  control  them  in  favour  of  slavery,  how  soon 
will  slavery  die  !  Reader !  will  you  not  resolve  that  you 
will  be  one  to  help  in  bringing  about  such  a  glorious 
result. 


li 


6ne,  swell  a  vole  and  augment  an  influence  which 
must  be  counted  against  the  Liberty  movement,  in 
the  vain  hope  that  those  with  whom  you  thus  act 
now,  will,  at  some  indefinite  future  period,  act  with 
you  for  the  overthrow  of  slavery  1  There  are,  per- 
haps, nearly  equal  numbers  of  you  in  each  of  the 
pro-slavery  parties,  honestly  opposed  to  each  other 
on  questions  of  trade,  currency,  and  extension  of 
territory,  but  of  one  mind  on  the  great  question  of 
slavery ;  and  yet  you  suffer  yourselves  to  be  played 
off  against  each  other  by  parties  which  agree  in  no- 
thing except  hostility  to  the  great  measure  of  posi- 
tive action  against  slavery,  which  seems  to  you,  and 
is,  of  paramount  importance.  What  can  you  gain 
by  this  course  ?  What  may  you  not  gain  by  laying 
your  minor  difference  on  the  altar  of  duty,  and 
uniting  as  one  man,  in  one  party,  against  slavery  1 
Then  every  vote  would  tell  for  freedom,  and  would 
encourage  the  friends  of  liberty  to  fresh  efforts.  Now 


*  To  the  question  "what  has  the  North  to  do  with 
slavery,"  no  answer  more  satisfactory,  and  none  more 
eloquent,  certainly,  can  be  given,  than  the  following  ex- 
tract from  a  letter  from  Casslus  M.  Clay,  dated  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  October  25th,  1845,  to  Messrs.  C.  D.  Cleveland, 
J.  Bouvier,  W.  Elder,  and  T.  S.  Cavender,  a  committee 
that  forwarded  to  him  a  series  of  resolutions  adopted  at  a 
)  meeting  held  in  the  State  House  in  Philadelphia,  to  sym- 
j  pathize  with  him  in  the  brutal  assault  made  upon  his 
I  press,  and  the  violence  threatened  to  his  person,  by  the 
mob  of  the  18th  of  August. 

"The  question  has  been  again  and  again  asked,  in  the 
most  complacent  simplicity, '  What  has  the  free  North  to 
do  with  Slavery  V  The  Slave  States  added  to  the  Union; 
the  unconstitutional  establishment  of  slavery  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia  ;  its  unlawful  sufferance  in  the  Territo- 
ries, the  high  seas,  and  places  of  national,  exclusive  juris- 
diction, answer,  the  North  is  as  guilty  of  this  crime  against 
man's  supremacy  and  immortality  as  the  South  ;  more  so, 
because  she  is  derelict  in  her  duty,  with  far  less  tempta- 
tion. But  as  no  offence  goes  unpunished,  she  is  reaping 
the  fruit  of  her  sorry  policy,  by  the  unjust  and  disgraceful 
wars  in  which  she  has  been  compelled  to  engage — by  taxes 
which  have  been  imposed  upon  her — by  the  immense  capi- 
tal which  has  been  swallowed  up  in  Southern  bankruptcy 
—by  the  hanging  of  citizens  without  trial  by  jury  and 
without  law — by  the  imprisonment  of  her  seamen — by  the 
expulsion  of,  and  insult  to,  her  ambassadors — by  the  denial 
of  justice  in  courts  of  national  justice — and  lastly,  by  the 
impudent  seizure  and  forcible  abduction  of  her  own  free- 
born  citizens  upon  her  own  soil,  and  their  incarceration  in 
distant  prisons.  Shall  any  one  be  so  base  as  any  longer 
to  ask,  '  What  has  the  North  to  do  with  Slavery  V  or  ra- 
ther shall  not  the  cry  henceforth  for  ever,  until  the  end,  be, 
'What  shall  the  North  do,  to  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Slaveryl'  " 

Again,  in  the  same  letter,  speaking  of  the  threats  uttered 
against  himself,  and  the  attack  upon  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  he  says  : 

"  If  this  be  an  unnecessary  infliction  of  the  slave  power, 
I  call  upon  the  nation  to  relieve  me.  If  it  be  a  necessary 
woe,  following  in  the  wake  of  American  slavery,  then,  by 
all  that  is  sacred  among  men,  or  holy  in  heaven,  let  Ame- 
ricans RISE  IN  THE  OMNIPOTENCY  OF  THE  BALLOT,  and  Say, 

Slavery  shall  die  !'' 

That  is  the  true  doctrine.  Let  all  the  citizens  of  the  Free 
States,  and  all  the  non-slaveholders  in  the  Slave  States 
RISE  IN  THE  OMNIPOTENCY  OF  THE 
BAI^LOT,  AND  SAY,  SLAVERY  SHALL 
DIE. 

t  According  to  the  Constitution,  direct  taxes  must  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  States  in  the  ratio  of  their 
representation  ;  and  as  the  slave  representatives  would 
increase  this  number,  it  would  also  increase  the  amount  of 
the  tax  in  the  same  ratio.  But  mark  how  the  slaveholders 
have  escaped  the  consequence  of  this  "compromise."  The 
whole  net  revenue  of  our  Government,  from  the  4th  of 
March,  1789,  to  January  1, 1845,  has  amounted  to  about 


every  vote,  whether  you  intend  it  so  or  not,  fells  for 
slavery,  and  operates  as  a  discouragement  and  hin- 
derance  to  those  who  are  contending  for  equal  rights. 
Let  us  entreat  you  not  to  persevere  in  your  suicidal, 
fratricidal  course ;  but  to  renounce  at  once  all  pro- 
slavery  alliances,  and  join  the  friends  of  liberty.  It 
is  not  the  question  now  whether  a  Liberty  party 
shall  be  organized ;  it  is  organized  and  in  the  field. 
The  real  question,  and  the  only  real  question,  is : 
Will  you,  so  far  as  your  votes  and  influence  go, 
hasten  or  retard  the  day  of  its  triumph  1 

All  Men  of  the  Free  States  ! 
Are  you  men  of  the  Free  States'?  And  have 
you  not  suffered  enough  of  wrong,  of  insult,  and  of 
contumely,  from  the  slaveholding  oUgarchyl*  Have 
you  not  been  taxed  enough  for  the  support  of  slaveryl-j- 
Is  it  not  enough  that  all  the  powers  of  the  govern- 
ment are  exerted  for  its  rnaintenance,^  and  that  all 


975  millions  of  dollars;  of  which  but  little  more  than  la 
millions  have  been  received  in  direct  taxes  ;  and  of  this, 
the  South  has  paid  for  her  slave  representation  only 
$1,256,553)  or  about  one  million  and  a  quarter.  But  had 
the  revenue  of  the  Government,  amounting  to  975  rail- 
lions,  been  raised  by  direct  taxation,  the  South  would  have 
had  to  pay,  as  her  proportion,  for  her  slave  representation, 
over  105  millions;  but  instead  of  that  she  has  paid  but 
one  million  and  a  quarter. 

When,  therefore,  at  the  close  of  the  last  war,  our  coun- 
try was  in  debt  about  130  millions  of  dollars,  the  South  re- 
solved that  this  should  not  be  paid  by  direct  taxes,  but  by 
duties  laid  upon  imported  goods.  Accordingly  the  Tariff 
of  1816  was  established.  It  was  then  emphatically  a 
Southern  measure.  That  Tariff,  for  instance,  admitted  the 
articles  used  for  the  clothing  of  slaves  at  a  duty  of  Jive 
cents  on  the  dollar's  worth,  and  charged  twenty  cents  on 
the  dollar's  worth  of  finer  articles  used  for  the  clothing  of 
free  labourers,  thereby  making  the  honest  labour  of  the 
Free  States  j)a.y  four  dollars,  while  the  slave  labour  of  the 
Slave  States  paid  but  one,  for  clothing. 

The  Free  States,  however,  with  their  industry  and  skill, 
soon  acco;::imodated  themselves  to  this  state  of  things,  and 
their  manufactures,  by  degrees,  rose  to  a  height  of  great 
prosperity.  But  no  sooner  was  our  national  debt  paid, 
than  the  South,  ever  watchful  of  its  purpose,  resolved  to 
strike  a  death-blow  at  the  prosperity  of  the  Free  States ; 
and,  accordingly,  the  celebrated  "compromise"  Tariff  of 
1832  was  devised  and  carried  ;  in  which  the  "compromise" 
was,  as  it  ever  has  been,  all  one  way.  Nothing  is  clearer 
than  that  the  Slave  power  put  on  the  Tariff  in  1816,  and 
took  it  off  in  1832.  They  have  done  just  as  they  pleased. 
Reader,  it  is  in  your  power  to  say,  they  shall  do  so  no 
longer. 

t  The  aggregate  amount  of  the  appropriations  for  the 
NAVY,  for  three  years  previous  to  1846,  was  17,357,556 
dollars,  a  considerable  portion  of  which  was  spent  for  the 
home  squadron,  which  consisted,  in  1843,  of  one  frigate, 
three  sloops  of  war,  four  brigs,  one  schooner,  and  one 
steamship.  But  why  all  this  array  of  naval  force  on  our 
own  coast  at  a  time  of  profound  peace?  Let  the  late 
Judge  Upshur,  a  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  a  Virginian, 
answer.  In  his  first  report  to  Congress,  he  speaks  of 
"those  incursions  from  which  so  much  evil  is  to  be  appre- 
hended." Again;  " the  effect  of  these  incursions  on  the 
Southern  portion  of  our  country  would  be  disastrous  in 
the  extreme."  And  again  ;  "the  Southern  naval  stations 
more  especially,  require  a  large  force  for  their  security.  A 
large  number  of  arms  is  kept  in  each  of  them,  which,  by  a 
sudden  irruption  of  a  class  of  people  who  are  not 
citizens,  might  be  seized  and  used  for  very  disastrous 
purposes."  Here,  men  of  the  Free  States,  you  have  the 
whole  of  it.  Here  you  see  how  we  are  taxed  to  provide 
a  force  to  keep  the  slaves  of  the  Southern  States  from  in- 
surrection.   "  What  has  the  North  to  do  with  slavery?" 

Again  :  look  at  the  Post-Office  Department.  How  enor- 
mous were  the  rates  of  postage  for  fifty  years ;  and  even 
now  (1845)  they  are  by  no  means  so  low  as  they  should 


12 


the  Departments  of  the  Government  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  Slave  power  1  How  long  will  you 
consent  by  your  votes  to  maintain  slavery  at  the 
seat  of  the  National  Government,  in  violation  of  the 
Constitution  of  your  country,  and  thus,  give  your 
direct  sanction  to  the  whole  dreadful  system  1  How 
long  will  you  consent  to  be  represented  in  the  Na- 
tional Councils  by  men  who  will  not  dare  to  assert 
their  own  rights  or  yours  in  the  presence  of  an 
arrogant  aristocracy;  and,  in  your  State  Legisla- 
tures, by  men  whose  utmost  height  of  courage  and 
manly  daring,  when  your  citizens  are  imprisoned, 
without  allegation  of  crime,  in  slave  States,  and 
your  agents,  sent  for  their  relief,  are  driven  out,  as 
you  would  scourge  from  your  premises  an  intrusive 
cur,  is  to  PROTEST  and  submit.  Rouse  up,  men  of 
the  free  States,  for  shame,  if  not  for  duty  !  Awake 
to  a  sense  of  your  degraded  position.  Behold  your 
President,  a  slaveholder;  his  cabinet  composed  of 
slaveholders  or  their  abject  instruments;  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  submissive  and  servile;  your 
representatives  with  foreign  nations,  most  of  them 
slaveholders ;  your  supreme  administrators  of  justice, 
most  of  them  slaveholders ;  your  officers  of  the  army 
and  navy,  most  of  them  slaveholders.*  Observe  the 
results.  What  numerous  appointments  of  pro- 
slavery  citizens  of  slave  States  to  national  employ- 
ments !  What  careful  exclusion  of  every  man  who 
holds  the  faith  of  Jefferson  and  Washington  in  respect 
to  slavery,  and  believes  with  Madison  « thatitis  wrong 
to  admit  in  the  Constitution  the  idea  of  property  in 
man,"  from  national  offices  of  honour  and  trust  If 
What  assiduity  in  negotiations  for  the  reclamation 
of  slaves,  cast,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  on  foreign 
shores,t  and  for  the  extension  of  the  markets  of  cot- 
ton, and  rice,  and  tobacco,  ay,  and  of  men  !  What 
zeal  on  the  judicial  bench  in  wresting  the  Constitu- 
tion and  the  law  to  the  purposes  of  slaveholders,  by 
shielding  kidnappers  from  merited  punishment,  and 
paralyzing  State  legislation  for  the  security  of  per- 
sonal liberty!  What  readiness  in  legislation  to 
serve  the  interests  of  the  oligarchy  by  unconstitu- 


be.  But  why  those  high  rates?  In  order  that  the  Free 
States,  where  there  is  so  much  more  correspondence, 
might  make  up  the  loss  the  department  sustained  in  the 
Slave  States.  In  1844,  the  Free  States  were  a  gain  to  the 
department  of  more  than  half  a  million  of  dollars,  while 
the  Slave  States  were  a  loss  to  the  department  of  more 
tlian  half  a  million.  The  Liberty  Party  will  not  cease  in 
their  efforts  in  this  matter,  till  the  postage  here  is  the  same 
as  it  is  in  England;  two  cents,  prepaid  by  stamps,  for 

ALL    DISTANCES,  ON    EVERY    LETTER    WEIGHING    HALF    AN 

OUNCE.  What  comfort  and  joy  would  this  bring  to  the 
door  of  every  farmer,  tradesman,  mechanic,  merchant,  and 
professional  man  throughout  the  land  ! 

Again  :  see  how  we  were  taxed  to  support  the  Florida 
war.  That  war,  so  disgraceful  to  our  country,  cost  forty 
MILLIONS  of  dollars;  and  it  was  undertaken,  prosecuted, 
and  finished,  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  slaveholder,  that 
the  slave,  escaping  from  his  tyranny,  might  not  find  pro- 
tection in  the  wigwam  of  the  red  man.  It  was  for  this 
that  the  decree  went  forth,  that  the  Indian  must  be  driven 
from  his  native  forests ;  and  the  foul  deed  was  done. 
"  What  has  the  North  to  do  with  Slavery  I" 

*  Of  the  43  officers  in  the  Navy  Department  in  Wash- 
ington, in  1844,  there  were  31  from  the  Slave  States,  and 
but  la  from  the  Free  States  :  and  of  all  the  officers  in  the 
Navy,  whether  in  actual  service  or  waiting  orders,  Penn- 
sylvania, with  a  free  population  more  than  double  that  of 
Virginia,  had  but  17T,  while  Virginia  had  334. 

t  Never  vkras  this  policy  of  the  slaveholders  more  con- 
Bpicuous  than  in  filling  the  vacancy  on  the  bench  of  the 


tional  provisions  for  the  recovery  of  fugitive  slaves 
and  by  laying  heavy  duties  on  slave-labour  products 
thereby  compelling  non-slaveholding  labourers  U 
support  slaveholders  in  idleness  and  luxury  I  Whei 
shall  these  things  have  an  end  1  How  long  shal 
servile  endurance  be  protracted  ]  It  is  for  you,  fel 
low  citizens,  to  determine.  The  shameful  partiaU^ 
to  slaveholders  and  slavery  which  has  so  long  pre 
vailed,  and  now  prevails,  in  the  administration  oi 
the  government,  will  cease  when  you  determine  tha 
it  shall  cease,  and  act  accordingly. 

All  Non-Slaveholdehs  of  the  Seave  States  1 
Are  you  non-slaveholders  of  the  slave  States  1 
Let  us  ask  you  to  consider  what  interest  you  hav< 
in  the  system  of  slavery.  What  benefits  does  it 
confer  on  you  1  What  blessings  does  it  promise  to 
your  children  ]  You  constitute  the  vast  majority  of 
the  population  of  the  slave  States.  The  aggregate 
votes  of  all  the  slaveholders  do  not  exceed  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand,  while  the  votes  of  the 
non-slaveholders  are  at  least  six  hundred  thousand, 
supposing  each  adult  male  to  possess  a  vote.  It  is 
clear,  therefore,  that  the  continuance  of  slavery  de- 
pends upon  your  suffrages.  We  repeat,  what  interest 
have  you  in  supporting  the  system  ? 

The  Fkuits  of  SLAVEur. 

Slavery  diminishes  yom-  population  and  hinders 
your  prosperity.  Compare  New  York  with  Virginia, 
Ohio  with  Kentucky,  Arkansas  with  Michigan, 
Florida  with  Iowa.     Need  we  say  more'?^ 

It  prevents  general  education.  It  is  not  the  interest 
of  slaveholders  that  poor  non-slaveholders  should  be 
educated.  The  census  of  1840  reveals  the  astound- 
ing facts  that  more  than  one-seventeenth  of  the 
white  population  in  the  slave  States  are  unable  to 
read  or  write,  while  not  a  hundred  and  fiftieth  part 
of  the  same  class  in  the  free  are  in  the  same 
condition,  and  tliat  there  are  more  than  twelve  times 
as  many  scholars  at  pubUc  charge  in  the  free  States 
as  in  the  slave  States.!! 


Supreme  Court,  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Judge  Thomp- 
son, in  December,  1843.  Two  or  three  most  able  and  u{)- 
right  men  were  rejected  by  the  Senate,  because  it  wag 
feared  that  they  had  sentiments  adverse  to  slavery.  And 
how  tame,  on  all  such  occasions,  have  been  the  Senators 
from  the  Free  States  !  But  such  instances  might  be  mul- 
tiplied indefinitely. 

t  See  the  letter  of  instructions  written  by  Daniel  Web- 
ster, as  Secretary  of  State,  to  Edward  Everett,  our  minister 
at  London,  respecting  the  slaves  shipwrecked  in  the  brig 
Creole ;  a  letter  of  such  a  character  as  to  receive  a  de- 
servedly severe  review  from  an  independent  and  able 
editor  of  the  Secretary's  own  party— Charles  King,  of  tha 
New  York  American. 

$  In  1790,  Virginia,  with  about  70,000  square  miles  of 
territory,  contained  a  population  of  748,308;  New 
York,  with  about  45,000  square  miles  of  territory,  con- 
tained a  population  of  340,130,  not  one  half.  In  1840, 
Virginiahad  1,339,797;  New  York,  3,438,931,  nearly 
double.  In  1800,  Kentucky  had  330,955  inhabitants; 
Ohio,  45,365  :  in  1840,  the  former  had  increased  to 
779,838;  the  latter,  to  1,519,467  inhabitants.  In 
Virginia  there  are  13  free  inhabitants  to  a  square  mile  j 
in  New  York,  53. 

II  According  to  the  last  census  there  are  of  scholars  In 
free  schools,  in  the  Free  States,  433,173;  in  tlie  Slave 
States,  35,5  80.  Ohio  alone  has  51,813  such  scholars, 
more  than  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  13  Slave  States. 

In  1837,  Governor  Campbell  reported  to  the  Virginia  legis- 
lature, that  from  the  return  of  9  8  clerks,  it  appeared  that  of 


13 


It  paralyzes  your  industry  and  enterprise.  The 
census  of  1840  also  disclosed  the  fact  that  the  free 
States,  with  two  millions  and  a  quarter  inhabitants 
more,  and  ninety-eight  millions  acres  less  than  the 
slave  States,  produce  annually,  in  value,  from  mines, 
thirty-three  millions  dollars  more ;  from  the  forests, 
eight  millions  dollars  more;  from  fisheries,  nine 
millions  dollars  more ;  from  agriculture,  forty  millions 
dollars  more ;  from  manufactures,  one  hundred  and 
fifty-one  millions  dollars  more.  At  the  same  time, 
the  capital  invested  in  commerce  by  the  free  States 
exceeds  the  capital  similarly  invested  in  the  slave 
States  by  more  than  one  hundred  millions  of  dollars ; 
and  the  tonnage  of  the  former  exceeds  the  tonnage 
of  the  latter  by  more  than  a  thousand  millions  tons ! 
This  enormous  disparity,  which  will  strike  attention 
the  more  forcibly  when  it  is  considered  that  much 
of  the  capital  employed  in  the  slave  States  is  owned 
in  the  free,  can  be  ascribed  to  no  cause  except 
slavery.* 

It  degrades  and  dishonours  labour.  In  what 
country  did  an  aristocracy  ever  care  for  the  poor  1 
When  did  slaveholders  ever  attempt  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  free  labourer  1  "  White  negroes" 
is  the  contemptuous  term  by  which  Robert  Wick- 
liffe,  of  Kentucky,  designated  the  free  labourers  of 
his  State.  He  saw  no  distinction  between  them 
and  slaves,  except  that  the  former  may  be  converted 
into  voters.  Chancellor  Harper,  of  South  Carohna, 
teaches  that,  "  so  far  as  the  mere  labourer  has  the 
pride,  the  knowledge  or  the  aspiration  of  a  freeman, 
he  is  unfitted  for  his  situation."  And  he  likens  the 
labourer  "  to  the  horse  or  the  ox,"  to  whom  it  would 
be  ridiculous  to  attempt  to  impart  «  a  cultivated  un- 
derstanding or  fine  feeling."  Governor  McDuffie, 
in  a  message  to  the  legislature  of  South  Carolina, 
went  so  far  as  to  say  that "  the  institution  of  domestic 
slavery  supersedes  the  necessity  of  an  order  of  no- 
bility, and  the  other  appendages  of  an  hereditary 
system  of  government."  Of  course  the  slaveholders 
are  the  noble,  and  you,  the  non-slaveholders,  are  the 
ignoble,  of  this  social  system. 


Slavery  corrupts  the  religion  and  destroys  the 
morals  of  a  community.  We  need  not  repeat  Jef- 
ferson's strong  testimony.  In  a  message  to  the 
legislature  of  Kentucky,  some  years  since,  the  Go- 
vernor said,  "  We  long  to  see  the  day  when  the  law 
will  assert  its  majesty,  and  stop  the  wanton  destruc- 
tion of  life  which  almost  daily  occurs  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  this  Commonwealth."  And  the  Go- 
vernor of  Alabama,  in  a  message  to  the  legislature 
of  that  State,  said,  "  Why  do  we  hear  of  stabbings 
and  shootings,  almost  daily,  in  some  part  or  other 
of  our  State  1"  A  Judge  in  New  Orleans,  in  an 
address  on  the  opening  of  his  court,  observed, 
"  Without  some  powerful  and  certain  remedy  our 
streets  will  become  butcheries,  overflowing  with  the 
blood  of  our  citizens."  These  terrible  pictures  are 
drawn  by  home  pencils.  Can  commimities  prosper 
when  religion  and  morality  furnish  no  stronger 
restraints  on  violence  and  passion  7-j- 

Slavery  is  a  source  of  most  deplorable  weakness. 
What  a  panic  is  spread  by  the  bare  suggestion  of  a 
servile  insurrection !  And  how  completely  are  the 
slaveholding  States  at  the  mercy  of  any  invading 
foe  who  will  raise  the  standard  of  emancipation! 
In  the  revolutionary  war,  according  to  the  secret 
journals  of  Congress,  South  Carolina  was  "unable 
to  make  any  effectual  efforts  with  militia,  by  reason  of 
the  great  proportion  of  citizens  necessary  to  remain 
at  home  to  prevent  insurrection  among  the  negroes, 
and  to  prevent  the  desertion  of  them  to  the  enemy." 
We  need  not  say  that  if  the  danger  of  insurrection 
was  then  great,  it  would  be,  circumstances  being 
similar,  tenfold  greater  now.^ 

Slavery  seeks  to  deprive  non-slaveholders  of  poUti- 
cal  power.  In  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  espe- 
cially, has  this  policy  been  most  steadily  and  success- 
fully pursued.  In  South  Carolina  the  political 
power  of  the  State  is  lodged  in  the  great  slaveholding 
districts  by  the  Constitution,  and  to  make  assurance 
doubly  sure,  it  is  provided,  in  that  instrument,  that 
no  person  can  be  a  member  of  the  legislature  unless 
he  owns  five  hundred  acres  of  land  and  ten  slaves, 


4614:  applications  for  marriage  licenses,  no  less  than 
104:7  were  made  by  mei4  unable  to  write!  How  ad- 
mirably calculated  to  assume  the  responsibilities  of  the 
father ! 

*  Shipping,  value  of,  in  the  Free  States    $6,311,805 
"  "  "       Slave  States  704:,391 

Manufactures,  value  in  the   Free 

States  $334:,139,690 

«  «        Slave  States    83,935, T4::3 

f  "From  long-continued  and  close  observation,  we  be- 
lieve that  the  moral  and  religious  condition  of  the  slaves  is 
such,  that  they  may  justly  be  considered  the  heathen  of 
this  Christian  country,  and  will  bear  comparison  with 
heathen  in  any  country  in  the  world.  The  negroes  are 
destitute  of  the  gospel,  and  ever  will  be  under  the  present 
etate  of  things." — Report  published  by  the  Synod  of  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  December  3,  1833. 

The  Rev.  C.  C.  Jones,  in  a  sermon  preached  before  two 
associations  of  Planters  in  Georgia,  thus  writes  :  "Gene- 
rally speaking  they  (the  slaves)  appear  to  us  to  be  without 
God  and  without  hope  in  the  world;  a  nation  of  heathens 
in  our  very  midst." 

In  the  10th  Annual  Report  of  the  Sunday  School  Union, 
we  see  that  there  were  that  year  in  the  Free  States 
504r,835  scholars;  and  in  the  Slave  States  83,533. 
The  single  State  of  New  York  had  161,768,  about  twice 
as  many  as  all  the  Slave  States  together. 

X  The  following  table  shows  the  force  that  each  of  the 
thirteen  States  supplied  for  the  regular  army  from  1775  to 
1783  inclusive,  and  also,  the  sums  allo\Ved  to  the  several 
States  for  expenses  incurred  during  the  Revolutionary  War. 


States. 

Troops  furnished. 

Money  allowed 

New  Hampshire, 

13,4:97 

64,378,015 

Massachusetts, 

67,907 

17,964,613 

Rhode  Island, 

5,908 

3,783,974 

Connecticut, 

31,939 

9,385,737 

New  York,        ' 

17,781 

7,179,983 

New  Jersey, 

10,736 

5,343,770 

Pennsylvania, 

35,678 

14,137,076 

Total  of  the  present  > 
seven  Free  States.) 

173,436 

§61,971,167 

Delaware, 

3,386 

0,839,319 

Maryland, 

13,913 

7,568,145 

Virginia, 

36,678 

19,085,981 

North  Carolina, 

7,S63 

10,437,586 

South  Carolina, 

6,417 

11,533,399 

Georgia, 

3,679 

3,993,800 

Total  of  the  presen 
six  Slave  States. 

\ 

59,335 

$53,438,130 

Besides  this,  it  might  be  added,  that  of  the  45  officers 
of  the  revolutionary  army,  the  seven  Northern  States 
furnished  30,  the  six  Southern  States  15. 

By  this  table  it  will  be  seen,  that  while  the  Northern 
States  furnished  about  three  times  the  number  of  troops 
furnished  by  the  Southerij  States,  they  received  not  one- 
fifth  more  money.  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and 
Georgia,  furnished  but  16,359  troops,  and  received  about 
35  millions  of  dollars ;  New  York  furnished  17,781 
troops,  and  received  but  7  millions.  Virginia  received 
over  a  million  of  dollars  more  than  Massachusetts,  while 
she  furnished  but  a  little  more  than  one-third  the  number 
of  soldiers. 

B 


14 


or  an  equivaknt  in  additional  land.  The  right  of 
voting  for  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President 
is,  in  South  Carolina,  confined  to  members  of  the 
legislature;  consequently,  m  that  State  no  non- 
slaveholder  can  have  a  voice  in  the  selection  of  the 
first  and  second  ofi^icers  of  the  Republic.  In  Vir- 
ginia the  slave  population  is  considered  the  basis  of 
political  povper,  and  the  preponderance  of  represen- 
tation is  given  to  those  districts  in  which  there  is 
the  largest  slave  population.  The  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives consists  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
members,  of  whom  fifty-six  are  chosen  by  the  coun- 
ties west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  and  seventy-eight  by 
the  counties  cast.  The  Senate  consists  of  thirty-two 
members,  of  whom  thirteen  are  assigned  to  the 
western,  and  nineteen  to  the  eastern  counties.  Al- 
ready the  fi-ee  white  population  west  of  the  Blue 
Ridge  exceeds  the  same  class  east  in  number,  but  no 
change  in  the  population  can  affect  this  distribution 
of  political  power,  designed  to  secure  and  preserve 
the  ascendency  of  the  slaveholders,  who  chiefly 
reside  east  of  the  Ridge,  so  long  as  the  Constitution 
remains  unchanged. 

To  Nok-Slaveholders. 

These,  non-slaveholders  of  the  Slave  States,  are 
the  fruits  of  slavery.  You  surely  can  have  no 
reason  to  love  a  system  which  entails  such  conse- 
quences. Yet  it  lives  by  your  sufferance.  You 
have  only  to  speak  the  word  at  the  ballot-box,  and 
the  system  falls.*  Will  you  be  restrained  fi-om 
speaking  that  word  by  the  consideration  that  the 
eaislaved  will  be  benefited  as  well  as  yourselves  ]  or 
by  the  selfish  expectation  that  you  may  yourselves 
become  slaveholders  hereafter,  and  so  be  admitted 
into  the  ranks  of  the  aristocracy  1  If  such  considera- 
tions withhold  you,  we  bid  you  beware  lest  you 
prepare  a  bitter  retribution  for  yourselves,  and  find, 
to  your  mortification  and  shame,  that  a  patent  of 
nobility,  written  in  the  tears  and  blood  of  the 
^pressed,  is  a  sorry  passport  to  the  approbation  of 
mankind. 


To  Slateholdebs. 

^e  would  appeal,  also,  to  slaveholders  themselves. 
We  would  enter  at  once  within  the  lines  of  selfish 
ideas  and  mercenary  motives,  and  appeal  to  your 
consciences  and  your  hearts.  You  know  that  the 
system  of  slaveholding  is  wrong.  Whatever  theo- 
logians may  teach  and  cite  scripture  for,  you  know — 
all  of  you  who  claim  freedom  for  yourselves  and 
your  children  as  a  birthright  precious  beyond  all 
price,  and  inalienable  as  life — that  no  person  can 
rightfully  hold  another  as  a  slave.     Your  courts,  in 

*  The  following  extract  from  a  speech  of  the  Mayor  of 
New  Orleans,  indicates  what  power  is  felt  to  lie  in  the 
ballot-box.  "So  long  as  the  people  at  the  North  con- 
tented themselves  with  the  name  of  Abolitionists,  we  of 
the  South  had  nothing  to  fear,  but  now  that  they  carry  the 
subject  to  the  ballot-box,  we  have  reason  to  tremble  for 
the  safety  of  our  institutions." 

t  Another  instance  of  gross  injustice  that  occurs  to  us, 
1b  the  Distribution  of  the  Surplus  Revenue,  by  the  Act  of 
1836.  The  sum  to  be  distributed  was  $37,4:68,859  ;  and 
the  act  declared  that  it  should  be  divided  in  proportion  to 
the  representation  of  the  several  States  in  Congress.  Of 
this,  the  South,  with  a  free  population  of  3,789,674:, 
received  $16,058,08/3;  while  the  North,  with  a  free 


noli 
thi 


their  judicial  decisions,  and  your  books  of  commoE 
law  in  their  elementary  lessons,  rise  far  above 
precepts  of  most  of  your  religious  teachers,  and  do 
clare  all  slaveholding  to  be  against  natural  righl| 
You  feel  it  to  be  so.  God  has  so  made  the  human 
heart,  that,  in  spite  of  all  theological  sophistry  an^ 
pretended  scripture  proofs,  you  cannot  help  feelinj 
it  to  be  so.  There  is  a  law  of  sublimer  origin  and 
more  awful  sanction  than  any  human  code,  written 
in  ineffaceable  characters,  upon  every  heart  of  man, 
which  binds  all  to  do  unto  others  as  they  would  thai 
others  should  do  unto  them.  And  where  is  therti 
one  of  all  your  number  who  would  exchange  condi- 
tions with  the  happiest  of  all  your  slaves  1  Produca 
the  man  !  And  until  ne  is  produced,  let  theological 
apologists  fof  slaveholding  keep  silence.  Mo^ 
earnestly  would  we  entreat  you  to  listen  to  th4 
voice  of  conscience  and  obey  the  prompting  of  hi* 
manity.  We  are  not  your  enemies.  We  do  noj 
pretend  to  any  superior  virtue ;  or  that  we,  being  ia 
your  circumstances,  would  be  hkely  to  act  differcntlji 
from  you.  But  we  are  all  fellow  citizens  of  thi 
same  great  republic.  We  feel  slaveholding  to  be  s 
dreadful  incubus  upon  us,  dishonouring  us  in  thfl 
eyes  of  foreign  nations ;  nulUfykig  the  force  of  oul 
example  of  free  institutions ;  holding  us  back  fronj 
a  glorious  career  of  prosperity  and  renown ;  sowing 
broadcast  the  seeds  of  discord,  division,  disunion-* 
and  we  are  anxious  for  its  extinction.  With  Jeffer- 
son, we  tremble  for  our  country  when  we  "  remembear 
that  God  is  just,  and  that  his  justice  cannot  sleep 
for  ever."  With  Washington,  we  believe  "thai 
there  is  but  one  proper  and  effectual  mode  by  which 
the  extinction  of  slavery  can  be  accomplished,  and 
that  is,  by  legislative  authority ;  and  this,  so  far  as 
our  suffrages  will  go,  shall  not  be  wanting." 

We  would  not  invade  the  Constitution ;  but  wo 
would  have  the  Constitution  rightly  construed  and 
administered  according  to  its  true  sense  and  spirit 
We  would  not  dictate  the  mode  in  which  slavery 
shall  be  attacked  in  particular  States ;  but  we  would 
have  it  removed  at  once  from  all  places  under  tho 
exclusive  jurisdiction  of  the  national  government, 
and  also,  have  immediate  measures  taken,  in  accord- 
ance with  constitutional  rights  and  the  principles  of 
justice,  for  its  removal  fi-om  each  State  by  State 
authority.  In  this  work  we  ask  your  co-operatioik 
Shall  we  ask  in  vain  1  Are  you  not  convinced  that 
the  almost  absolute  monopoly  of  the  oflfices  and  the 
patronage  of  the  government,  and  the  almost  exclu- 
sive control  of  its  legislation  and  executive  and  judi- 
cial administration,  by  slaveholders,  and  for  the  pui*- 
poses  of  slavery,  is  unjust  to  the  non-slaveholders 
of  the  country  If  Can  you  blame  us  for  saying  that 
we  will  no  longer  sanction  it  1     Are  you  not  satis- 

population  of  7,003,339,  received  but  $ 3 1,4:1 0,7 7 Q!™ 
So  that  for  each  iniiabitant  of  the  free  North  there  waa 
but  $3.05,  while  for  each  free  person  of  the  South  there 
was  received  $4.33  ;  or  $1.18  more  for  each  free  pep- 
son  in  the  South,  than  for  each  free  person  in  the  Nortl^ 
Consequently,  the  South,  by  this  operation  alone,  received 
for  her  slave  representation  in  Coagress  mort  than  FOim 

MILLIONS  OF  DOLLARS. 

But  what  makes  the  injustice  of  this  distribution  still 
more  flagrant,  is  the  fact,  that  the  surplus  revenue  waa 
mostly  accumulated  by  Northern  industry  and  enterprise; 
first,  from  the  duties  on  imported  merchandise,  of  which 
the  North  pays  three  dollars  to  one  paid  by  the  South ;  and 
second,  from  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  which  arc 


.15 


fied,  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  your  own  num- 
ber, "that  slavery  is  a  cancer,  a  slow  consuming 
cancer,  a  withering  pestilence,  an  unmitigated  curse'?" 
And  can  you  wonder  that  we  should  be  anxious,  by 
all  just,  and  honourable,  and  constitutional  means, 
to  effect  its  extinction  in  our  respective  States,  and 
to  confine  it  to  its  constitutional  limits  1  Are  you 
riot  fully  aware  that  the  gross  inconsistency  of  slave- 
holding  with  our  professed  principles  astonishes  the 
world,  and  makes  the  name  of  our  country  a  mock, 
atnd  the  name  of  liberty  a  by-word  1  And  can  you 
regret  that  we  should  exert  ourselves  to  the  utmost 
to  redeem  our  glorious  land  and  her  institutions 
fiora  just  reproach,  and,  by  illustrious  acts  of  mercy 
and  justice,  place  ourselves,  once  more,  in  tlie  van 
of  Human  Progress  and  Advancement  1 

To  allFriekds  of  Liberty,  axd  of  ora  Cotrir- 

TKx's  BEST  INTERESTS. 

Finally,  we  ask  all  true  friends  of  liberty,  of  im- 
partial, universal  liberty,  to  be  firm  and  steadfast. 
The  little  handful  of  voters,  who,  in  1840,  wearied 
of  compromising  expediency,  and  despairing  of  anti- 
slavery  action  by  pro-slavery  parties,  raised  anew 
the  standard  of  the  Declaration,  and  manfully  re- 
solved to  vote  right  then  and  vote  for  fi-eedom,  has 
already  swelled  to  a  Great  Partt,  strong  enough, 
numerically,  to  decide  the  issue  of  any  national 
contest,  and  stronger  far  in  the  power  of  its  pure 
and  elevating  principles.  And  if  these  principles 
be  sound,  which  we  doubt  not,  and  if  the  question 
of  slavery  be,  as  we  verily  believe  it  is,  the  great 
aiTESTioN  of  our  day  and  nation,  it  is  a  libel  upon 
the  intelligence,  the  patriotism,  and  the  virtue  of  the 
American  people  to  say  that  there  is  no  hope  that  a 
majority  will  not  array  themselves  under  our  banner. 
Let  it  not  be  said  that  we  are  factious  or  impractica- 
ble. We  adhere  to  our  views  because  we  believ^ 
them  to  be  sound,  practicable  and  vitally  important. 
We  have  already  said  that  we  are  ready  to  prove 
our  devotion  to  our  principles  by  co-operation  with 
either  of  the  otlier  two  great  American  Parties, 
which  will  openly  and  honestly,  in  State  and  Na- 
tional Conventions,  avow  our  doctrines  and  adopt 
our  measures,  until  slavery  shall  be  overthrown. 
We  do  not,  indeed,  expect  any  such  adoption  and 
avowal  by  cither  of  those  parties,  because  we  are 
weU  aware  that  they  fear  more,  at  present,  from  the 
loss  of  slaveholding  support  than  from  the  loss  of 
anti-slavery  co-operation.  But  we  can  be  satisfied 
with  nothing  less,  for  we  will  compromise  no  longer ; 

mostly  bought  by  settlers  from  the  Free  States.  So  that, 
in  short,  while  the  Free  States  were  mainly  instrumental  in 
accumulating  the  surplus  revenue,  in  its  distribution  the 
Slave  States  received  more  than  their  just  share  by  over 
rouR  MILLIONS  OF  DOLLARS !  Who  Will  now  ask,  "What 
has  the  North  to  do  with  slavery  1" 

*  The  following  is  the  concluding  paragraph  of  the  Ad- 
dress of  the  great  Liberty  Convention  of  the  Friends  of 
Freedom  in  the  Jiastern  and  Middle  States,  held  in  Boston, 
October  1,  2,  and  3,  1845. 

"  And,  now,  men  of  the  free  North  I— Citizens  of  the 
Elastern  and  Middle  States ! — by  every  consideration  of 
religion,  humanity  and  patriotism,  you  are  urged  to  the 
exertion  of  all  your  powers  for  the  overthrow  of  slavery. 
Your  homes  and  your  altars,  your  honour  and  good  name, 
are  at  stake.  The  slave  in  his  prison  stretches  his  mana- 
cled hands  towards  you,  imploring  your  aid.  A  cloud  of 
witnesses  surrounds  you.    The  oppressed  millions  of  Eu- 


and,   therefore,   must    of   necessity   maintain   our 
separate  organization  as  the  true  Democratic  Party 
of  the  country,  and  trust  our  cause  to  the  patronage, 
of  the  people  and  the  blessing  of  God  !  -^ 

Carry  then,  friends  of  freedom  and  free  labour, 
your  principles  to  the  ballot-box.  Let  no  difficulties 
discourage,  no  dangers  daunt,  no  delays  dishearten 
you.  Your  solemn  vow  that  slavery  must  perish  is 
registered  in  heaven.  Eenew  that  vow !  Think 
of  the  martyrs  of  truth  and  freedom ;  think  of  the 
millions  of  the  enslaved ;  think  of  the  other  millions 
of  the  oppressed  and  degraded  free ;  and  renew  that 
vow  !  Be  not  tempted  from  the  path  of  political 
duty.  Vote  for  no  man,  act  with  no  party  poUtically 
connected  with  the  supporters  of  slavery.  Vote  for 
no  man,  act  with  no  party  unwiUing  to  adopt  and 
carry  out  the  principles  which  we  have  set  forth  in 
this  address.  To  compromise  for  any  partial  or 
temporary  advantage  is  ruin  to  our  cause.  To  act 
with  any  party,  or  to  vote  for  the  candidates  of  any 
party,  which  recognises  the  friends  and  supporters 
of  slavery  as  members  in  full  standing,  because  in 
particular  places  or  under  particular  circumstances, 
it  may  make  large  professions  of  anti-slavery  zeal,  is 
to  commit  political  suicide.  Unswerving  fideUty  to 
our  principles;  unalterable  determination  to  carry 
those  principles  to  the  ballot-box  at  every  election ; 
inflexible  and  unanimous  support  of  those,  and  only 
those,  who  are  true  to  those  principles,  are  the  con- 
ditions of  our  ultimate  triumph.  Let  these  condi- 
tions be  fulfilled,  and  our  triumph  is  certain.  The 
indications  of  its  coming  multiply  on  every  hand. 
The  clarion  trump  of  freedom  breaks  already  the 
gloomy  silence  of  slavery  in  Kentucky,  and  its  echoes 
are  heard  throughout  the  land.  A  spirit  of  inqtiiry 
and  of  action  is  awakened  everywhere.  The  as- 
semblage of  the  convention,  whose  voice  we  utter, 
is  itself  an  auspicious  omen.  Gathered  from  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  the  East  and  West,  we  here 
unite  our  counsels,  and  consolidate  our  action.  We 
are  resolved  to  go  forward,  knowing  that  our  cause 
is  just,  trusting  in  God.  We  ask  you  to  go  forward 
with  us,  invoking  His  blessing  who  sent  his  Sen  to 
redeem  mankind.  With  Him  are  the  issues  of  all 
events.  He  can  and  He  will  disappoint  all  the  de- 
vices of  oppression.  He  can,  and  we  trust  He  will, 
make  our  instrumentality  efficient  for  the  redemption 
of  our  land  from  slavery,  and  for  the  fulfilment  of 
our  fathers'  pledge  in  behalf  of  freedom,  before  Him 
and  before  the  world.* 


rope  beseech  you  to  remove  from  their  pathway  to  free- 
dom the  reproach  and  stumbling-block  of  Democratic 
slavery.  From  the  damp  depths  of  dungeons— from  the 
stake  and  the  scaffold,  where  the  martyrs  of  liberty  have 
sealed  their  testimony  with  their  blood— solemn  and  awful 
voices  call  upon  you  to  make  the  dead  letter  of  your  repub- 
licanism a  living  truth.  Join  with  us,  then,  fellow  citizens. 
Slavery  is  mighty:  but  it  can  be  overthrown.  In  the 
name  of  God  and  humanity,  let  us  bring  the  mighty  ballot- 
box  of  a  kingless  people  to  bear  upon  it.  The  model  man 
of  our  Republic,  who  might  have  been  a  king,  but  would 
not,  calls  from  his  grave  upon  each  of  us  to  do  that, 
which  he  solemnly  declared  himself  ready  to  do — to  give 
his  vote  to  free  the  slave  and  to  abolish  the  wicked  phan- 
tasy of  property  in  man.  He  shall  not  call  in  vain.  We 
acknowledge  the  duty  of  consecrating  our  votes  to  the 
deliverance  of  the  oppressed,  and  joyfully  do  we  per- 
form it. 


LIBERTY    PAPERS 


The  following  is  a  correct  list  of  all  the  Liberty  papers  published  in  our  country,  according  to  the  bes 
information  we  have  been  able  to  obtain.    It  is  given  here,  that  those  who,  after  reading  this  Address^ 

may  be  favourable  to  its  views,  but  who  have  not  as  yet  taken  any  paper  devoted  to  the  cause,  may  se« 

what  one  will  best  suit  their  convenience  or  their  taste.  There  is  hardly  a  subject  of  national  or  state  m 
terest  that  is  not  more  or  less  affected  by  Slavery,  and  our  Liberty  papers,  to  say  nothing  of  the  signa 
ability  with  which  most  of  them  are  conducted,  give  that  information  on  this  important  subject  as  connect 
ed  with  the  great  interests  of  our  country,  that  will  be  in  vain  sought  for  in  the  papers  of  either  of  the 
other  parties. 

MAINE, Liberty  Standard,  Hallowell,                      weekly,         $2  0( 

Bang-or  Gazette,  Bangor^                               **                  1  5C 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  Granite  Freeman,  Concord,                              "                 1  5C 

VERMONT, Green  Mountain  Freeman,  Montpeliert                        "                 2  OO 

Genius  of  Liberty,  Jjudlow,                               **                  1  5C 

MASSACHUSETTS,  The  Emancipator,  Soston,                               "                 2  OC 

Hampshire  Herald,  Northampton,                     "                  2  OC 

Christian  Citizen,  Worcester,                           "                 1  S( 

Worcester  County  Gazette,  Worcester,                          •*                 2  OQ 

Essex  Transcript,  Amesbury,                          **                  1  5C 

Beacon  of  Liberty,  Taunton,                              "                 1  OC 

Chronotype,  Boston,                          daily,               5  OC 

Liberty  Sentinel,  Pittsjield,                        weekly,            1  50 

RHODE  ISLAND,  -  -  Woonsocket  Patriot,  Woonsocket,                         "                  1  Ofl 

Rhode  Island  Liberty  Pioneer,  Providence,  " 

CONNECTICUT,    -  -  Charter  Oak,  Hartford,                             "                 1  50 

NEW  YORK, Albany  Patriot,  Albany,                                "                 2  OC 

The  True  American,  Cortland  Tillage^                "                 1  OO 

Liberty  Press,  Utica,                                   "                 2  00 

Liberty  Intelligencer,  Syracuse,                            "                 1  25 

Christian  Investig-ator,  Honeoye,                         monthly,              5fl 

Anti-Slavery  Reporter,  New  York,                            **                      50 

I'he  Countryman,  Perry,                            weekly, 

Herkimer  Freeman,  Little  Falls,                         " 

NEW  JERSEY,    -  -  -  New  Jersey  Freeman,  Boonton,                              "                      25 

PENNSYLVANIA,    -  The  American  Citizen,  Philadelphia,                       "                  2  00 

The  Spirit  of  Liberty,  Pittsburg,                             "                  2  00 

The  Washington  Patriot,  Washington,                        *  *                 2  00 

The  Mercer  Luminary,  Mercer,                                   "                 2  00 

Clarion  of  Freedom,  Indiana,                                "                 1  50 

OHIO, Morning  Herald,  Cincinnati                      daily,               5  00 

Philanthropist,  "                              weekly,           2  00 

Cleveland  American,  Cleveland,                            **                 2  00 

Liberty  Advocate,  Cadiz,                                 "                  1  50 

Liberty  Herald,  Warren,                               ** 

Aurora,  New  Lisbon,                       ** 

INDIANA, Free  Labour  Advocate,  New  Garden,                       "                 2  00 

Indiana  Freeman,  Indianapolis,                        " 

"Western  Aurora,  Centre,  Grant  County, 

ILLINOIS, Chicago  Daily  News,  Chicago,                          daily. 

Western  Citizen,  **                                 weekly,            2  00 

MICHIGAN, Signal  of  Liberty,  Ann  Arbor,                           "                   1  50 

WISCONSIN, American  Freeman,  Prairieville,                          "                  2  00 

KENTUCKY, True  American,  Lexington,                           "                  2  50 

The  following  are  some  of  the  most  prominent  Religious  Papers  that  are  decidedly  Anti- 
Slavery,  or  friendly  to  the  Anti-Slavery  cause: 

The  Recorder,                              Boston,  Mass.,  weekly.              Orthodox  Congregational.  ^ 

The  Christian  Reflector,                    »'         «  «                   Baptist. 

Zion's  Herald,                                      «         *«  «                    Methodist. 

The  Morning  Star,                         Dover,  N.  H.,  «                   Free  Will  Baptist. 

The  Evangelist,                            New  York,  "                  New  School  Presbyterian. 

True  Wesley  an,                                     *♦  «                   Methodist. 

"Watchman  of  the  Valley,              Cincinnati,  Ohio,  «                  New  School  Presbyterian. 

Oberlin  Evangelist,                       Oberlin,            "  "                  Congregational. 


This  Address  may  be  had  at  the  office  of  the  American  Citizen,  No.  46  North  Fifth  Street, 
Philadelphia,  at  ten  dollars  a  thousand.  Five  hundred  will  be  sent  to  one  address  for  $6  ;  any 
number  below  that  $1,50  a  hundred.  Will  not  Liberty  men  and  Liberty  editors  eveiy where  do 
what  they  can  to  promote  its  wide  circulation.  So  effective,  and  at  the  same  time,  so  cheap  a 
document  it  is  believed  has  not  yet  been  issued  from  the  Liberty  press.  Orders,  post  paid,  di- 
rected as  above,  enclosing  the  money,  will  be  promptly  attended  to. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


m\l  21 1959 


2Kt)r'65^it 


f^tiC'D  LB 


APR    r65-J2|jr 


nAug'65VI 


REC'D  t  n 


AUG    5 '65 -10  AM 


LD  21A-50m-4,'59 
(A1724s]0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


Vo  5065( 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


